Heyo folks! yeah,i know with Restoration i said i might take a hot minute to post up this story, but all in all, i was really just trying to figure out a title for yall. anywho enjoy folks!


The Cornerian girl gulped as the other Cornerians in the dark room all brandished their carbines. She was sitting on a stool in the center of the room, her hands tied behind her back. She knew there was a total of five people in the room, three canines, a feline, and a human behind her that she couldn't see. They all had small carbines ready and waiting, split between the two doors into the room. One of the doors was suddenly kicked open, all five aiming and firing, their White bolts flashing through the opening, just as the second door was suddenly kicked down, several forms flashing in and firing their own weapons, four of the rooms occupants dropping from the white blasts. The girl shrieked as she was harshly jerked from the stool by the human, a muzzle jammed into the side of her head.

"Don't fucking move!" the blue female of two vulpines that had rushed into the room glanced at the orange and white vulpine before the group started to spread out around her, a black feline and blue avian on her right. "I said don't fucking move or I swear I will blow her fucking brains out!" she winced at his harsh shout, which was almost straight into her ear. Jeez, I know it's his job, but does he have to yell right in my ear! She wanted to sigh, but she realized she had a role to play too.

"Please! Help me!" she started squirming and writhing in his grip, not enough to actually break free, his grip being surprisingly soft on her.

"Shut up and cut it out!" he jammed the weapon against her head again, probably more forcefully than he had intended, given it actually hurt this time Before any more could happen, the male vulpine's weapon discharged. The white bolt caused her to jump, but it ended up a perfect shot, the human collapsing behind her.

"Will!" she couldn't help but panic a little as she dropped beside her friend. The lights kicked on in the room, illuminating his smooth skin and light brown hair, cut cleanly and short.

"Jeez Mira, he'll be fine, I just stunned him." Mira cringed at Fox's words, realizing that she really was being dramatic over nothing. She felt blood immediately rush up to her cheeks, the fur on her muzzle standing almost on end because of it.

"Ugh…. I hate being stunned, even at these light settings!" she nearly jumped as the human spoke from beneath her. "Fox, Krystal, Katt, Falco, good job. That was almost flawless. I presented you with a situation you haven't encountered before, and you all reacted nearly instinctively. The only thing I would have downed you on is shooting me as you did." Mira stepped away from Will as he stood, rubbing his head as he spoke. there was a small glint on his third finger, marking the wedding ring he wore.

"the fuck are you talking about Hawkins! we shot the fucking hostage taker, the hostage wasn't hurt, how can you dock us on that shit!" the blue avian, Falco Lombardi was almost shouting at Will.

"Simple, you nearly shot the hostage. That was an extremely risky shot you took Fox. Falco was in a much better position, if anyone should have fired, it was him. With Mira struggling as she was, had you fired at the wrong time, you would have hit her instead of me." He glanced down at his watch before continuing. "Anyway, that's about the most we can do today. Got anything else for us Fox?" Fox immediately shook his head to Will's question, smiling at the group.

"Nope. Take the rest of the day off guys. All of you did great, including you Mira. At this rate, you'll make the combat team in no time flat. Anyway, thanks officers." Fox nodded to the four Cornerian police officers in the room before he continued. "See you all tomorrow. Krys, lets go pick up Marcus." As soon as he finished speaking, he and cobalt Vixen stepped out together, most of the others following him out.

Technically speaking, they were in an old run down warehouse at the edge of an industrial park, that a former private military contractor had purchased and created an entire mock village with in it, for use as a tactical training ground for other mercenary companies. Not long after, police and military forces were running training missions here as well, to the point that military and police instructors now worked here full time. Star Fox had only come here a few times since hiring their first, and so far only, human recruit just a month prior.

"Need a lift home Mira?" Mira jumped as Will spoke directly at her, wanting nothing more than to shrink away and disappear. Mira was not one someone would call a people person. And despite the fact that Will and her older brother were tight friends, and the number of casual conversations around him while working on his fighter, she was still extremely nervous around him, as well as most of the Star Fox team. She had joined Star Fox six months prior in hopes of joining their flight team, following in her deceased parents foot steps as combat pilots. Instead, due to her work in a mechanics shop and natural knack for machinery, she was one of the three mechanics currently on Star Fox's payroll.

"Uh, yeah, I could definitely use a ride. If you are offering." She weakly smiled as she responded to him, the human immediately returning it.

"Come on silly. You really should get yourself a car." Mira shrugged, not really caring as he beckoned for her to follow. Although she did hate bumming rides from everyone, despite being twenty-two years old, she really didn't have the money to add a car payment to the bills she already had. She may have gone to a trade school to be an aircraft mechanic, mostly due to not having high enough grades for the flight academy, but trade schools usually weren't free. And with the death of her parents nearly five years ago, she was footing the bill almost entirely on her own. "So where am I going?"

"Oh….. just take me back to the headquarters. I stay there with Fay." She sighed as she responded to him, noticing the almost worried glance he gave her. she had learned very quickly that, despite being very loud and crass, he was a very kind and caring person, albeit, he showed that in some of the strangest ways she had ever seen. Mostly with swear heavy insults and banter. But, as crass as he seemed, just one conversation with him made it abundantly clear that he would have your back, so long as you had his.

"Really, you don't have an apartment or something?" she shook her head as they moved through the mock village, toward the exit. Neither one of them spoke as they moved to his small four by four, a 'jeep' as he called it. the black hardsided vehicle was tricked out for off roading, and Mira had to admit, she liked the look of it. it didn't take them long to be on the highway, toward the other side of the industrial sector, still not a word being uttered.

The city of Roan had been a major industrial center on Corneria for almost a thousand years, having been one of the city's the planets industrial revolution had launched from. Although, in the past hundred years or so, as conflicts started to grow in the Lylat system, it's industrial prowess was slowly converted to military purposes, with almost all of the major manufactures producing weapons and equipment here. Old dry docks that once built wet navy freighters were now producing combat starships. This was due to the Cornerian Defense Force placing Fort McKay just thirty kilometers inland from the city, Fort McKay being home to CS-COM, or Cornerian Sector Command. These two factors lead to the city having a large volume of Private Military Corporations, even Star Fox basing itself here. After Andross's biological attacks over thirty years ago in the first Lylat wars, it had served as Corneria's main center of government until Corneria City's construction was completed nearly twenty years ago. despite it's industrial nature, the downtown district was one of the most visited tourist areas on the planet, it's beaches and markets being filled with the best and most exotic goods. This was due in part to the downtown being nearly twenty kilometers west of the industrial zone, the space between filled with suburbs. Due to ocean currents, any would be pollutants and debris from the industrial zone was pulled away from downtown, leaving it's waters clear and clean. On the western side of downtown was one of the largest space ports on Corneria, only bested by the one in Corneria City. Roan was undoubtably, one or the main trade hubs of Corneria.

All that said, unlike most of the other PMC groups inhabiting this region, Star Fox's headquarters was not based in one of the downtown skyscaper's, but a small group of warehouses converted into hangers for their various fighters and equipment on the southern side of industrial zone, including a small three story office building. that office building had been converted into a communal barracks and home command center, including having it's own briefing rooms, meeting room, and gym. And that was where Mira currently called home, along with Falco Lombardi, Fay Spaniel, Miyu Lynx, and Katt Monroe. Most of the other members of the Star Fox team were married, and lived away from the facility.

"So Mira?" Will's sudden and quiet question ripped Mira from her idle thoughts, instantly sending blood rushing to her cheeks. This caused her to want to smooth the fur on her muzzle down, but she hoped he didn't understand what that fur standing up meant. So instead, she tried to look him in the eye without blushing anymore.

"Y-Yes Will?" she kept her focus entirely on him, seeing his gentle smile, his eyes never leaving the road.

"Amanda and I are celebrating our first Anniversary in a couple of weeks. Just going to go over to the tourist district and have some fun. I… thought I might offer for you to join us. Dan should be there. I think Fox and Krys are coming too." he glanced at her momentarily as he spoke, and she managed to catch the small pleading look he had just given her.

"I…. I don't know Will. I'm not sure I should." She hated having to say that to him, but that's what she really felt at that moment. Yes, she really liked the time they had spent bantering as they did maintenance on his human fighter, as well as several of the Arwings, but she had misgivings about spending any time with him outside of work. For one, he was married, and she really did not want to make his wife think he was cheating on her. she knew from her brother just how much Amanda meant to the man. At the same time, she would love to spend more time with him, treasuring the moments she had with him. he was one of her few friends after all, and had been so almost since the moment they had met each other.

Mira herself was a Hybrid, which was a very rare occurrence in Lylattian society. Particularly, a hybrid between a feline and a vulpine. She had a shorter and wider muzzle than a Vulpine, but kept a lot of their structure. Her fur was short though, much like her feline mothers, and was patterned closer to her mother as well, with a delightful brown and tan combination. That said, she had the ears and incredibly bushy tail of a vulpine. All in all, she felt she looked somewhat awkward herself, her only redeeming qualities being her deep sapphire blue eyes and voluminous deep brown hair. One of the things that bothered her about most of her friends, was the fact that all of them seemed to look at her differently than normal people. The exception to this being Will, and in extension, the Star Fox team, who never seemed to give her the looks she had grown so used to over her life. To Will, she was just another person.

"Oh….. Just thought it would be nice. You seem like a fun person." She saw his brow furrow, Will clearly disheartened by her answer. "Ya know what, next week, I'll wrangle us a flight space over the ocean, and I'll let you take my eff-ninety-six out. I know you want to get on the flight team, and I know you have never actually flown before, but I think you can handle her. I've seen your sim runs after all." His voice was suddenly very different, almost straight up chipper.

He….. he's willing to let me fly his fighter!? He babies that thing though! "I…. I don't know what to say….. I mean, I would love to, but… Fox wouldn't let me, would he?" her brain was still scrambling, trying to figure out why he seemed to suddenly trust her so much. To which he was just chuckling at.

"I'll pay for the fuel myself if I have too! the arwing I'll fly out there wont use much anyway. And the saber may be a fuel guzzler, but you wont be up long, maybe an hour or two, tops. So what do ya say?"

"Sure. If Fox will let us." he nodded quite proudly to her, silence falling between them once more. That's when she decided to reach over to his stereo system and start it up, flicking through the many stations looking for one she wanted to listen too.

"Stop, just hit the media button twice and it will play the internal drive."

She did as she was told, some sort of human rock song playing, not at all sounding right to her as the human vocals were translated into her ear. "I don't want to listen to this crap though! I can't understand it anyway!" She felt more than saw his glare at her.

"First off, never tell me that Thunderstruck by ACDC is crap. Secondly, driver picks the music, shotgun shuts their cake hole." Although his voice sounded harsh and angry, she was able to catch the small cracks in his sarcastic ruse, the man barely keeping from laughing at himself. Then again, he was probably intentionally letting those cracks show. That and the slight smile at the corners of his lips were quick tell's that he was just messing around.

"Jeez Will, you are such an Ass!" she artfully rolled her eye's as she shot her own playful jibe back, looking out the window to avoid him seeing her grin. Thank whatever deity have us in the car right now, otherwise, my tail would be going wild!

"You're just now noticing?!" for once, he sounded genuinely surprised, Mira risking a glance his way. Immediately, she saw the quivering at the edge of his lips as the man tried to not grin like a maniac. "I mean, that's a new record! One whole month before somebody realized that fact…. I'm… I'm dumbfounded!" his ruse was starting to fall apart as she listened, him having to try and emphasize his words more to keep from cracking.

"Oh puh-lease, I figured it out the second you walked in! I'm only just now commenting on it!" she stuck her tongue out at him after she spoke, Will's composure finally falling as he rolled his eyes, a grin exploding across his face.

"We're fuckin nuts." She laughed in response to his comment, that making the last sound to have fallen between them until they reached the HQ. but it was in no way an uncomfortable silence, quite the opposite in fact. Mira was at a near perfect calm now, Will being one of only two people she had ever been able to reach a state similar to this with. She quietly thanked him as he pulled into one of the spaces, giving him the absolute best smile she could manage, which he whole heartedly returned before pulling away, leaving her at the head quarters building.


Miyu glanced up as she heard the door to the common area open, watching as the hybrid Mira stepped through the door, as well as the slight odor that came in with her. which was completely understandable, given she had just been helping with the room clearing drills the rest of the flight team had been running. Miyu herself would have been there if she hadn't been sick, nearly been bed ridden all day. She had been running a fever for most of the week, since getting back from a simple tracking job for the company. Miyu was Star Fox's resident bounty hunter, so although she technically was a member of the flight team when they really needed more birds, she usually ran solo missions for them to help add to their profit. This last one had her tracking a criminal across half the system, from the Fortunian jungle out to Mecbeth, and even out to Venom. As such, she had more than likely picked up some bug or another, the team's in house doctor having already cleared her as not being severely contagious. She had still been working until she woke up this morning, so weak and sore that she barely made it to the couch in the common area.

"Hey Mira, have fun in the mock village?" Her voice croaked out of her as she tried to greet Mira, earning her one very concerned look from the sapphire eyed hybrid.

"Yeah, a little bit. Will gave me a good little welt though. You sound terrible Miyu! Even worse than this morning actually!" Mira trotted over to the couch as she spoke, dropping onto it as soon as she arrived. Miyu was currently sitting crosslegged next to the arm, completely bundled in her over large silky red blanket.

Miyu had been living at the headquarters for several years now, even before she had officially joined the Star Fox team. As such, she had a large amount of personal furniture such as a queen sized bed and wardrobe, compared to the straight up utilitarian furniture in Mira and Fay's rooms.

The living area was on the second floor to the former office building, the common room being the first area one entered from the stairway. It was a large square space divided between a small full kitchen and pantry, small communal dining space, and an entertainment space. The entertainment space dominated half the room, filled almost to the brim with sofas and recliners, as well as several coffee tables and massive flatscreens. Every screen had several gaming systems and it's own cable receiver, including a few human consoles Will had donated to the team. Along the back wall were several bookcases filled with novels, technical manuals, and textbooks, mostly Fay's personal collections but Miyu had been enjoying them. most of these were actual paper page books, not the digital books most people seemed to like these days. The area was actually very comfortable, and Miyu was honestly quite satisfied with living there.

"What did Will do to give you a welt?" now that Mira had sat beside Miyu on the couch, Miyu could easily see the slight misshapen section of fur on the younger woman's temple. As she watched, Mira gently rubbed at it, her ears folding back as she let out a faint whimper.

"Oh….. he ran Fox in them against a hostage situation, I was the hostage. He just jabbed my head to hard with the training carbine. Wasn't intentional, just hurts like hell." Mira let out a sigh as she finished, Miyu watching as her eye's dropped to the floor. Mira ended up like this a lot when she started talking about Will. If Miyu had to guess, she really liked Will, but wouldn't admit it to anyone. Which honestly made perfect sense, given Will was happily married, as far as Miyu had seen. "He also invited me over for his anniversary party in a couple weeks."

"Well, what did you say?" Miyu tried to turn her attention back to the tv, but the news channel she had been watching was now utterly boring compared to the current conversation.

"I said no. just….. feel like it would be wrong of me to be there. I mean, I barely know him, and I've never even met Amanda before so I don't know." Mira let out a quiet sigh as she finished, popping her boots up on the couch to clutch her knees to her chest, resting her muzzle on top of them. some of her bangs fell in front of her eyes, hiding them from Miyu. "But he is going to let me fly his Saber next week so I guess there's that….." despite Miyu knowing how desperately the woman wanted to fly, Mira's voice was still despondent, her ears flat on her head.

"Well that sounds like an awesome thing!" Both Miyu and Mira jumped at the sound of the cheery voice behind them, Miyu shocked that she hadn't heard the brilliant white canine's approach. The canine in question lightly leapt over the back of the sofa, landing between them and instantly glaring at Mira. "And how many times have I told you to not put your boots on the couch!" Both Mira and Miyu winced as Fay's voice raised several octaves, Mira gingerly sliding her feet back to the floor.

Fay was the sole reason their living space was kept immaculate. Of course, that extended to the Arwing hangar as well. Fay was the one of the two 'vice' mechanics, under Slippy Toad. Although she tended to be more of the engineering side, helping slippy design and build prototype parts and equipment for the team. Mira on the other hand, did most of the repair and maintenance work, leading that team, despite how little time she had spent with Star Fox.

Fay herself was a long snouted, floppy eared canine with deep blue eyes and an explosion of curly white hair, which she controlled with a red ribbon that she always tied into a bow. She was an absolute girly girl, which was funny next to Mira's down and dirty grease monkey personality, and Miyu's straight up Tomboy. But the trio always got along, despite their differences.

"Sorry Fay, wasn't thinking. And I guess. I mean, it's exciting." Mira shrugged as she finished, still staring at the floor.

Miyu stared at the woman with half lidded eyes, simply slowly shaking her head. "You sure don't sound excited Mira." Miyu tried to get Mira to smile by smiling at her, but all she got was an unintelligible grumble. Miyu rolled her eyes at that, seeing Fay taking a breath to speak and deciding to let the canine speak.

"Anyway, what do you two want to do this weekend? And you really need to shower Mira." Fay sounded as bouncy as she always was, and was in no way meant to be insulting. But Miyu had to agree, Mira reeked at the moment.

"Well, If I'm feeling better tomorrow, I'd say we should hit the bar. Or go do something. I hate being cooped up in here all weekend!" Miyu tried her best to sound excited as she spoke, but her swollen sinuses, stuffed nose, and sore throat all ruined that attempt.

"I promise we will Miyu! I gotta go finish my class work though. See you two!" Fay bounced off the couch before trotting toward the dorm access, Mira shambling after her after muttering something about showering to Miyu, leaving Miyu alone on the sofa. Fuck, I feel ab-so-lutely fucking terrible right now! she couldn't help that thought, her long, tufted ears flattening as she tried to bury herself deeper in the blanket.