The Great Fox sailed peacefully through the Lylat System. Its crew which consisted of 5 all seemed to be bored out of their skulls. Work had been very rare. They had even stopped running in to Star Wolf at all. Ever since the Aparoids diminished, the system had been rather quiet.
Fox Mcloud sat in the Captain's Chair, one hand propping his head up. He had not exactly become lazy. He used to train every second he wasn't working. It wasn't long before that stopped since he started stinking up the place. And he really didn't want to stink in front of Krystal. Although he was stubborn to admit it, Krystal seemed to flirt with him more and more. Saying he felt nothing for the blue vixen would be a downright lie, but saying he did would be signing up to be humiliated my Falco.
Speaking of Falco, he just got back from another 'little break' as he called it. This time he brought back that familiar little cat from a few years ago, Katt Monroe. They had always had an 'off and on' relationship due to cluttered schedules and business, so it surprised the hell out of Fox when she came strutting through door. Not like he himself could talk. He let his eyes roam over to Krystal, who was on a console. At least Falco has been gotten to 'on'. Krystal noticed him staring and smiled at him. Instead of hurriedly looking away Fox smiled back. It was always refreshing to see that smile. No matter how gloomy the day looked he could always count on that smile to lift his mood.
Suddenly, a ring blasted through the ship, signaling an incoming transmission. Fox snapped his eyes away from Krystal and to the hologram panel where a model of Peppy's head appeared.
"Greetings, Starfox!" the hare exclaimed.
"Peppy!" Krystal happily shouted happy to see the ex-mercenary.
"What's up old timer?" Fox casually greeted. Work had been scarce and the Conerian Military had little use for mercs.
"It's been awhile Fox! You guys find a fourth yet?" he asked. When Peppy left to be General of the Military, Slippy had become a full-time mechanic. He retired his Arwing, sometimes using its parts to fix the other Arwings. As if on cue Falco walked through the door with a mischievous Katt behind him.
"Yo, Fox! Who's on the tube?" he asked apparently curious about the ringing. "Peppy! Long time, no see old man!" he said.
"Likewise Falco," he responded with a smile. "Still getting into trouble I see," he said referring to the feline. Falco blushed a little.
"Hey, you got it all wrong! She's just here to get her ship repaired!"
"I see. So she's not apart of the team then?" Katt's ears perked up.
"I wouldn't mind being apart of the team, you guys are fixing my Cat's Paw v2 for free, anyway." Fox smiled.
"Well you're welcome to join, Ms. Monroe," Katt smiled and Falco sweatdropped.
"Thanks, and call me Katt. It feels weird being called Ms. Monroe."
"Of course," everyone smiled except Falco. He would have to talk to Fox privately later on. "Peppy, why'd you call? Do you have something for us?" he asked.
"Actually, yes Fox. There's been a disturbance on the small planet of Klerta. Klerta is located not far from Coneria's space station. If fact sometimes the station orbits the planet. The local military there beseeched us to find some thieves that took a large shipment of priceless jewels from a freighter about 72 hours ago." Peppy paused. "Apparently they took out a relay and raided the freighter from a dry-dock."
"Klerta huh? Nice place but their military doesn't mess around. It's not really smart to pick a fight with them unless you have numbers, or just ridiculous firepower." Falco inquired.
"Peppy, how many thieves were there?" Fox asked. Peppy looked grim.
"4," he answered. The Starfox team looked shocked.
"Star Wolf?" Krystal asked, worry written all over her face. She knew how much Fox liked a challenge, but their foe had to seriously be versatile to pull off a heist like that.
"Not this time. The StarWolf team are mercs like you. They probably wouldn't hesitate to pull a job like this but we confirmed they are not involved." Peppy paused looking away from them. He faced them once more. "I'm transmitting video captured from a camera in the relay they hit," he finished.
As promised, the video began screening. It depicted the insides of the base. The long corridors were crawling with guards. To them it was just another day at work, guarding the relay and chatting with colleagues. However, an explosion went off somewhere in the facility. The guards raised their alert status and got very defensive. They tried to contact the outside but failed. Apparently, that's when it hit them that the explosion took out their communications and left them in the dark. A camera captured laser shot, obviously from a blaster lighting up the dark hallways. That's when the first thief appeared. He was obviously in the avian species. The feathers on his head were white while the rest of his body was brown, although he had on an all black mercenary outfit. The bald eagle took out every guard in the corridor with a spectacular combination of firearm skills and had-to-hand combat. Fox couldn't believe his eyes as he would take out a group of guards, then disappear to ambush the next set. This man was no ordinary soldier. A look at his right arm showed that he had a robot prosthetic arm, just as bulky as his left. The arm showed he could do increased damage when he punched a rhino in his chest and sent him flying down the hall. Once the avian got to the main generator room, he was surrounded. Lights flashed on him and the officers demanded he put his hands up. He seemed to be talking to himself, as he put his hands up with something in his left hand. The guards warned him to drop it or they would shoot to kill. The device was found out to be a detonator, because once he pressed a green button, multiple explosions went of behind him. Suddenly smoke enveloped the room.
"Don't let him get away! Fire!" a burly voice commanded. By now the room was to foggy to see anything but the laser rounds shooting a the last known spot of the intruder. It seemed he had an accomplice taking out the guards in the smokescreen. Punches could be heard landing, before the captain himself was knocked out. The smoke settled in the room to reveal all the guards completely incapacitated. The heavy bird still stood in the middle of the room with his arms crossed.
"Nice work, Raven." He said in a husky voice. Another silhouette came into view from jumping down from the high ceiling and landing behind him.
"I aim to please," she said with a flirty tone. Yet another avian, this one was all black with a smaller frame than her leader. She walked towards him, swaying her hips while she walked.
"How long?" he asked, his voice still serious.
"Don't worry, sexy," she said pinching his ass when she passed him causing the bigger avian to raise an eyebrow. "I'll have these generators in the ground before you know it," she said smirking back at him. The white haired avian talked into his communicator once more.
"Eagle, to Samu. Standby for evac, Raven's gonna take the generators and we'll be on our way to the freighter." He stated.
"Copy that, Eagle standing by for evac. Doc's gonna proceed ahead to the freighter once he gets the signal, over." The female voice echoed out of his communicator.
"Copy that," Eagle said as he turned his attention back to Raven. "Done yet? Let's go. It won't be long before they notice something's up." He said.
"Always so impatient," she said typing on a monitor. Everything on the screen went red, signaling her success. "A girl likes a man who can take his time, ya know," she said suggestively. Before placing a charge on the console. Eagle pulled an adhesive grenade out of a bag and threw it at the ceiling. It detonated leaving a large hole, which a rope dropped through. Eagle grabbed her waist as he grabbed the rope. "Ooh," she laughed. "But we love a man who can take charge even more." She said seductively, as the rope lifted them both out of the facility. The charge Raven placed on the console detonated taking out the generators and also the cameras.
The video ended and there was an eerie silence in the room.
"Two people did all that damage. That quick," Falco said stunned.
"Not just two people," corrected Peppy. "They rendezvous with another suspect and all four of them raided the freighter together."
"From what I've seen so far, it's safe to say they're working for someone. Any idea who?" Fox asked. Peppy shook his head.
"None. We heard their names and ran checks on them and found some info on the two birds. Apparently their both ex-corneria military. They specialized in recon stealth. One year ago when the Aparoids attacked, the Conerian Cruiser they were on crashed on Fortuna, the entire crew died but two bodies were unaccounted for. An Eagle Smith and Raven Sanchez," Peppy paused. "Fox these are our own people. They went M.I.A when the ship crashed and no doubt the arm on Eagle was a little present from the Aparoids."
"So if these are ex-conerian ops, why send us? I thought you took this kinda thing personally," Falco offhandedly asked.
"It's obvious the Klerta Military knew they were our operatives. They don't trust us, so I'm sending you." He said like it was common knowledge.
"What about the other two? We heard their names, Doc and Samu. Any intel on them?" Katt asked which surprised the other members.
"We believe that they're ex-cons from a Fortuna prison, but not much more than that." There was a long pause in the bridge.
"What's our mission?" Fox asked. A smile graced Falco's face; he knew he was going to say that.
"To hunt down and apprehend these criminals. As a side objective find out who they're working for. But don't overdo it. We can find out ourselves when we have them. Their status has been raised to A-rank. So be careful," Peppy finished.
"Aren't I always?" Fox joked. Peppy smiled at him.
"Good luck, Peppy out," he said as the transmission ended.
Fox looked at his teammates along with the new recruit, Katt Monroe. Krystal gave him a reassuring smile, Falco gave him a cocky grin, while Katt gave a confident smile.
"Alright Team! You heard the hare, not much is known about those thieves so I want everybody to stay in groups of twos at all times. Do not split up unless absolutely necessary. R.O.B! How long will it take to get to the Klerta base?" he asked. The robot hummed and beeped.
"About three days," it replied in a robotic voice.
"Rest up, when we get there stay frosty." He finished.
"But Fox, what are the teams?" Krystal asked. Fox thought about it.
"Falco has the most experience alongside Katt so they'll be Team 2. Krystal, you're with me. We'll be Team 1." He explained.
"Didn't see that coming," Falco sarcastically remarked, only to be elbowed by Katt.
"Guess we get some alone time again, huh Fox?" Krystal said with a sly smirk. Fox blushed.
"Y-Yeah, I g-guess so," he replied nervously. Falco snickered at his friend's expense.
"Well, I'm gonna go get some shut eye. I've been up for like a week," Falco said easing out of the room with Katt right behind him, claiming he'd slept like a rock the whole way here. Fox was alone with Krystal once more. He felt really awkward at her last remark.
"Our foes look pretty tough. Think we'll be alright?" she asked.
"We'll be just fine. I'll make sure of it," he said overcoming his nervousness.
"Got a plan? Or are you just winging it?" she asked jokingly. Fox smiled.
"Of course I have a plan. Don't I always?" he said.
"No." she said smiling. Fox sent her a withering look. "But…" she said getting up, she got dangerously close to his ear before whispering, "I know you'll surprise me," she said winking at him before walking out of the room. Leaving Fox blushing like a madman.
Falco had decided to hit the fridge for something to eat before going off to bed. Katt had sat in the living room which was connected to the kitchen via countertop. She was watching the news when she heard Falco curse from the kitchen.
"They don't even have any decent food in here." He complained. He shut the refrigerator door to find Katt behind it. He jumped in surprise but relaxed seeing it was just her.
"Ya know…" she started. 'Here we go…' Falco thought. He knew she was looking for trouble. "By the way we've been acting, the others probably think we're together." She mused, a mischievous smile daunting her lips.
"Well we aren't," Falco said plainly. Suddenly she backed him into the fridge.
"So what should I say?" she asked.
"I don't know. Beneficial Friends?" he answered. An evil glint appeared in her eye.
"Hmmm. Sounds a lot like friends with benefits," she said purring. "Besides," she said putting her hands around his neck and bringing her lips to his ear. "That sounds a lot…" she got even closer so he could feel her hot breath on his ear. "Hotter," she finished making Falco shiver. He put his arm around her waist keeping her pinned to him.
"You can put it how you like, I don't care," his lips dangerously close to hers.
"Somehow…" she said closing the distance, "I knew you wouldn't,"
"Am I interrupting something?" a voice came from behind them.
"Krystal!" Falco jumped pushing Katt away from him, much to her dismay. "No you're not interrupting anything! I was just gonna….go see what Fox was doing!" He said nervously. He must have forgotten Krystal was an empath. She was able to decipher that Falco was going to Fox because he she wasn't there. Falco inched past her and went back to the bridge leaving Krystal with a whining Katt.
"Umm forgive my rudeness, but is he your…"Krystal was cut off.
"Nope," Katt said blankly getting some milk out the fridge. "We're just Beneficial Friends."
Falco stumbled into the bridge to see Fox researching the film again. Fox lifted his head at him.
"Hey, I thought you were going to-"
"Scratch that," he cut him off. "I don't know if it's such a good idea to have Katt on the team." He stated. Fox sent him a questionable look.
"Huh? Why not? Both of you have known each other for a long time," Fox said.
"Not the point, dude. She's never been on a mercenary team before. She has no idea how we operate." Falco insisted.
"Hey, I've fought alongside her before. She's not too shabby. I think she'll be alright." Fox said. Falco had forgotten about that. He tried to think of another excuse but it seems Krystal isn't the only empath on the ship. "You're worried about her aren't you?" Fox teased. Falco's face went from blue to red almost instantly.
"P-Please! As if! You know me better than anyone, I only worry about myself!" he said trying to maintain whatever dignity he had left.
"You're right. I do know you better than anyone else. Enough to know you stutter when you're embarrassed. And you wouldn't have complained at all if you didn't care," he said smiling. Falco turned away. At least since she was paired with him he could keep an eye on her.
"Tch. Whatever," he said annoyed.
"At any rate…" Fox droned. "I don't know how we should proceed with this mission if there's no Intel on the two accomplices that weren't shown." Falco turned serious.
"Doing your homework?" he asked. Fox nodded.
"I had R.O.B access the Fortuna prison Doc and Samu were supposed to be incarcerated." Falco gave a look that said 'And?' Fox shook his head. "Nothing,"
"I guess the only logical reason would be one of them is a hacker." Fox nodded.
"We'll have to assume that," Fox face palmed. "And this Doc guy…."
"Sounded like he was the first one to hit the freighter," Falco said.
"Yeah, but how?" Fox questioned. "How can one man go to a military freighter without backup?" Falco put his hand to his chin.
"Maybe-," he was cut off by R.O.B.
"Incoming Transmission," he said. Fox and Falco were both shocked to see Wolf's face on the hologram.
"Yo, Mcloud! You gettin' me?" he asked. Fox got over the initial shock and responded.
"What the hell are you doing on my frequency? Of all people-," Wolf interrupted.
"Yeah, yeah save the speech hero I got a favor to ask," he said casually.
"And why the hell would we do you a favor?" Falco seethed.
"Hey I had your back against the Queen didn't I? And before that in Corneria City with big man Pepper. So don't act like I haven't scratched your back before," he retaliated. Fox thought about it.
"He's right," he said simply. Falco huffed. "What do you need?" he asked.
"A couple days ago we got a mission from some Officials on a planet called Klerta. Apparently a group of four…" he stopped once he saw their surprised faces. "What?"
"So we have the same mission, huh?" Wolf confirmed. The Starfox members nodded. "Well the favor I was gonna asked was for you to see if you can contact the Conerian Government to get some intel on two of the perpetrators." He said. "Their names are Eagle Smith and Raven Sanchez," he finished. Falco looked to Fox glad to see he kept his cool.
"Fox…" he said.
"Yeah, I know," Fox responded. He looked at Wolf. "Why only two? What about the other ones?" he asked.
"We already have the intel on them. Doc and Samu right?" Wolf responded. "All we found out about Eagle and Raven is that they were affiliated with the military," Fox and Falco laughed at their luck. "What the hell is so funny?"
"We're sending you the coordinates of The Great Fox," he said as R.O.B sent them. "Meet us as soon as you can and we'll discuss this further," Fox said. Wolf paused.
"Roger. Wolf, out," Wolf said as he disconnected.
…
Wolf's Team docked about 5 hours after the discussion. Katt and Krystal were in as much shock as Fox and Falco were in 5 hours prior. The first thing Fox noticed was the ships design had changed again. Presumably what he saw were Wolfen III's. Second, there were only two. It appeared Wolf had lost a member. Slippy had been briefed and were expecting them, but he still couldn't hide his surprise as the red and black ships docked.
"I hope you know what you're doing Fox," Krystal said worriedly. Fox flashed her one of his famous grins.
"Don't I always?" he saidmaking her blush for reasons unknown. Wolf and Panther hopped out of their ships and were greeted by StarFox via handshakes. "Where's Leon? Couldn't make it?" Falco asked. Leon and Falco were always rivals. Every time they had a run-n with StarWolf, Leon went out of his way to attack Falco.
"Something like that, he's dead." Wolf answered grimly.
"Sorry to hear that," Fox said.
"Why would you be?" Panther spat.
"Good question." Falco quipped. "To be honest I'm sort of relieved, one less pain-in-the-ass," Panther growled.
"You want pain?" Panther threatened coming face to face with Falco.
"Cut it off, both of you!"
"Cut it off, both of you!" Fox and Wolf yelled in unison.
"This isn't the time, Panther. You know as well as I do what became of Leon was his own doing. His blood thirst got out of control and he paid for it." Wolf consolidated.
"Falco, I know you're not easy to forgive but you have to move on. After all they're the reason we were able to save the system from the Aparoids. Without them we'd be dust," Fox reprimanded. Falco stepped back away from Panther.
"Let's just get this over with." Falco said. Fox ushered them to follow him to the bridge. Once they were in the hallway Fox spoke.
"I'm surprised mercs of your status were able to land a job like this," he said. Wolf chuckled.
"After the invasion was over word got out of how we helped you in Corneria City and how we saved your asses getting to the Queen. Employers started seeing us more than heroes than anything else. That's around the time Leon lost it, and had to be taken care of," he said. Fox knew Wolf had to finish his own teammate off. But thinking about it, he probably didn't have time for a nuisance like that anyway. The two captains kept chatting while Panther tried, and failed, at flirting with Krystal. Soon enough the reached the bridge.
"Alright, I'll cut to the chase," Fox said suddenly causing Wolf's ears to perk up. "You have intel on Doc and Samu, while we have intel on Eagle and Raven," Wolf looked surprised, but once he got over it he knew what came next. "I think we can help each other out," Fox finished. Wolf looked at him for awhile before laughing his dark laugh.
"Now I see what you two were laughing about," he said smiling. "We can exchange Intel, but we should contact the Military also," he said.
"Why should we?" Falco spoke up. "It's simple. You give us Intel, we give you Intel, done deal everybody's happy," Wolf smirked.
"Actually, Falco…" Katt started. "Doesn't it seem strange how we got the same missions from different governments and different info?" she asked.
"Obviously the Klerta Gov. didn't completely trust the Cornerians since two of the criminals originate from Corneria," Krystal explained. "Which means we'd have a much better chance analyzing all info from both sides before continuing." Falco conceded, as R.O.B was already dialing Peppy.
"Ah, Fox!" Peppy said. "Whaddya need?" he asked. Fox chuckled.
"Heh, you'll never guess who stopped by," on cue Wolf stepped into Peppy's view. Peppy almost had a heart attack.
"S-S-Star Wolf?" he said flabbergasted. "But why?" Wolf gave a lazy salute.
"Nice to see you again too, Mr. General," Wolf joked. "Allow me to explain…"
…
"I see…" Peppy concluded. "Well, let's hear it." Wolf held his hand out to Panther, who reluctantly gave him a disc. Wolf walked up to the console and put it in. a 3D image of a white and black Puma enlarged next to Peppy, who saw the model on his own console.
"This…is Doc. His real name was wiped away along with the records at Fortuna Prison. He was a demolitions expert, hired by some rich people on Katina time and time again. Other than that, he's just a punk that likes blowing shit up. According to the guards at the prison, he set the record of 'Fastest Time to be Unanimously Hated by the Population'. He'd start fights without throwing the first punch but always win, just by telling you something to make you angry. After awhile a riot started. And most the inmates wanted a piece of him.
"Apparently, that's where he met her," another 3D model appeared next to him; an all black jaguar. "Her name is Samu. She worked for the C.I.A as a master decoder, breaking down criminal firewalls leading to their arrest. One day she tried to use her skills to steal over a million dollars virtually, but got busted, and coincidentally thrown in Fortuna's Prison. She was pushed around most the time by the women, and disrespected by the men. When the riot broke out somebody pushed her to the center of a big circle where Doc was. They say he helped her up before the other inmates jumped him. While fighting them off he was only trying to protect her. She hated the gesture and started kicking a little ass herself. Ultimately, Doc ended up defeating every inmate, but not without getting busted up himself." Falco interrupted.
"You mean to tell me that guy, kicked that much ass?" he asked. Panther scoffed.
"Don't be impressed. Fortuna's got nothin' but softies. Katina is where the nasty ones are," he clarified. Wolf cleared his throat.
"Like I was saying, those two got real close that day. The guards say they developed a romantic relationship, but that's not the point. Point is they became associates. One day the both of busted out. All they had to do was knock out a couple guards, throw a thick carpet over the fence, and climb out. The strange part is, both their records were deleted that day, and even if they climbed the gate, how the hell did they disappear? The prison was located in a wasteland. Nobody could've survived without help." He concluded.
"Well we aren't mystery solvers. The only thing that matters is that they're our targets." Falco said. Fox agreed.
"He's right. Regardless how they did it they survived. Here's what we got on the other two," Fox told them the same thing Peppy told him about the two fugitives. Wolf's hand rested on his chin, thinking long and hard. After hearing both stories, it seemed Slippy had an epiphany.
"Guy! They're connected!" he exclaimed. Panther furrowed his non-existent brows.
"What are you talking about, frog?" Wolf put his hand to Panther's chest, silencing him.
"Go ahead, elaborate," Wolf encouraged. Slippy began typing on his console.
"There's no way anybody could survive the harsh conditions of Fortuna that the prison is in, right? But what if they had a ride?" he lectured. "Look, when cruisers crash into planets they don't explode until about thirty minutes after impact. The engines have to overheat. Eagle and Raven must have taken the last infantry ship before then. They could have possibly used the ship later on to pick those two up out of the wasteland!" he inquired.
"But…why?" Katt asked. The was silence before Fox broke it.
"Doesn't matter," Fox said. "We have to stop these people. If they can do that to a military base alone, then there's not mush they fear. If we don't stop them they'll just do it again and again, and even more people will get hurt," Fox had that look in his eye that made Falco and Wolf chuckle, but made Krystal swoon. "Wolf, can we count on you?" he asked. He and Panther looked at each other. Wolf sighed.
"Well, we probably couldn't stand a chance 2 on 6. And since we have different employers…" he trailed. Who would have thought he'd be saying this? "Fine. We got your back." Fox smiled.
"Well that settles it." He shook hands with Wolf sealing the deal. "Let's hunt some baddies."