Chapter 1
Beltino Toad sipped his coffee, looking bleary-eyed at the monitor on his desk. The computer's clock showed 12:03 am. Just looking at the time made him feel exhausted, but he knew he wasn't going to finish what he was doing if he fixated on that. After readjusting his glasses, he resumed pounding the keys, glancing out his office window every so often. The Cornerian Army's largest base spread out around his laboratory building. Its proper name was the Corneria City Space Navy Base (or CCSNB), and the lights still glowed brightly despite the late hour. After all, the Cornerian Army had to be ever vigilant and ready to defend the homeland. Andross taught them that well.
Beltino spared another glance at the mountains to the south. Some of Corneria City's taller skyscrapers peeked over them, twinkling in the night. He gazed at them with a sigh. Home was over there, and everyone else in the building was probably home and fast asleep now. About a week ago, the Cornerian Army's top brass gave his team a project they needed finished yesterday, and he and his team had been scrambling to finish it ever since. This was his fourth late night in a row. Sometimes he thought of his dedication with a mark of pride, but not tonight. Right now he just wanted to get out of here, eat something, and collapse into bed for a few hours.
At last, the report's final words appeared on the screen. Smiling with relief, Beltino emailed his report to General Peppy and shut down his machine. It felt rather good shutting off the lights and taking his coat off the wall after that. The elevator brought him to the first floor, announcing his arrival with a small 'ding'. The doors slid open, leaving nothing between him and his car but a dark hallway and a quick walk across the parking lot. He could see the lot's lights through the glass doors at the far end of the corridor.
As he approached the exit, some dark figures wandered into view, silhouetted by the street lights. They carried laser rifles. This was a military base though, so he didn't even blink at the sight. But when they reached the front door, one of them turned his rifle around and thrust the buttstock at the glass. It shattered, spraying the tile floor with shards. His eyes widened. Did that really just happen?
"That's him! Get him!" One of the figures reached for the door's lock through the shattered glass.
A wave of panic washed over Beltino, as he spun around and ran the other way. He could hear the front door sweeping open, pushing aside the shards as it went. Heavy boots echoed through the dark hallway after him. This felt like a nightmare. Why would someone want to chase him like this? He was just a scientist!
Beltino ran as fast as his legs could carry him, diving around a corner so the intruders couldn't get a shot at him. An alarm button hung on the wall nearby. He pounded on it as hard as he could, but nothing happened. In a panic, he pushed it several more times to no effect. The intruders rounded the corner, levelling their weapons at him. Beltino raised his hands up, his heart pounding. The three intruders moved to form a triangle around him, guns still pointed in his face.
All of them wore Cornerian military fatigues, wielding the standard-issue laser rifle. While they wore helmets with face-concealing visors, the long muzzles identified all of them as canines. Husky, jackal… One of them grabbed him round the shoulder and yanked him in close. The toad cried out, the canine's grip almost yanking his arm out of its socket.
"Dr. Beltino Toad?" the canine said in a calm voice.
He could feel the canine's hot breath on his face with how close together they were. That voice sounded familiar...
"Beltino Toad?" the canine repeated.
"Y-yes?" He adjusted his askew glasses.
The canine let out a little chuckle, raising his helmet's visor. Beltino gasped. It should have been impossible for him to be here, and yet here he was. The canine's single purple eye sized up the toad like a predator sizing up his next meal. A computerized eye patch covered the other eye, a long scar running underneath it and through the dark gray fur surrounding it. Wolf O'Donnell.
Beltino felt like Death smiled right at him as the lupine's wicked grin showed his sharp teeth. "Pleasure to meet you. You're coming with us."
Wolf wrapped one of his arms round Beltino's armpit, one of the fake soldiers getting the other side. They carried him down the hallway, his feet dragging on the tiled floor. As they rounded a corner, Beltino spotted a security camera mounted near the ceiling, looking right at them. Wolf and his cronies acted like it wasn't even there.
"Please! Someone help me!" Beltino cried out to the camera, craning his head towards it. "Wolf O'Donnell's got me! He's in the base! Send security!"
Laughter rung in the toad's ears, his captors smiling at his words. Wolf even stopped to give the camera a cheesy grin and thumbs up.
"You think we're that stupid?" Wolf turned to look at Beltino, pointing at the camera. "Your security guards are watching looping footage of empty hallways. They're blind and they don't even know it. Nobody is coming to help you."
A cold chill gripped Beltino, realizing he was alone with these criminals.
The group entered the building's maintenance section and boarded a large cargo elevator. Without warning, Wolf grabbed the badge lanyard around Beltino's neck and yanked it off, almost knocking off his glasses in the process. Moving the badge across a scanner, the scanner's light glowed green and the elevator descended.
Beltino thought he knew what Wolf was doing now. They were headed for the classified vaults in the subterranean complex underneath this base. That's why they needed him. First they used his badge to get past the lift's card scanner, and now Wolf would need his eyes for the vault's biometric scanner. The vault contained classified scientific information, antiquities, technology, and weapons. If these criminals got inside, they'd have all of the Corneria's military secrets at their fingertips.
But Beltino had one last hope. A round-the-clock security detail always manned the entrance to the vaults, with a minimum of four guards there at all times. He said a silent prayer as he waited for the elevator doors to open.
Next to Wolf, the fake husky soldier dropped his backpack onto the floor, pulling a massive gun out of it. Beltino recognized it as the new standard issue light plasma machine gun, the LPMG. In the firing trials, it shredded a car in half in under a minute. Husky stepped forward towards the crack in the elevator doors, levelling the weapon at it.
As the doors parted Husky opened fire, walking forward as he waved the gun left and right. He kept his finger on the trigger for well over fifteen seconds, the gun firing the entire time. The strobe effect of the plasma blasts was agonizing. Beltino closed his eyes and screamed, the roar assaulting his ears. In contrast, Wolf and Jackal stood stock still like nothing was happening. Finally, mercifully, the shooting stopped.
Beltino opened his eyes, afraid of what he might see. Reality didn't disappoint. Behind their desks, four guards laid back lifeless in their chairs, torn full of holes and blood splattered on the walls and vault door behind them. The LPMG's high-powered blasts had torn right through the armored guard booths. One of the dead guard's fingers hovered over the alarm button.
His captors dragged him between the two desks, which sat on either side of the path leading to the vault. Jackal walked into one of the guard booths, dragging out a dead soldier with another badge lanyard around his neck. Beyond the booths, the two-meter thick vault door loomed large in the far wall.
Wolf whipped Beltino's glasses off, before pushing him towards an eye scanner on the left side of the door. Meanwhile, Jackal dragged a security guard's corpse to the eye scanner on the right.
"Ready?" Wolf called out. "Three, two, one."
Beltino's eye got shoved into the retinal scanner, while Jackal did the same with the guard on the right. At the same time, Husky shoved the badges into card slots next to the retinal scanners. A green light illuminated over the vault door, the entrance grinding open. As they waited for it to finish opening, Wolf passed back Beltino's glasses. With a shaking hand, the toad put them back on.
"All right Mr. Beltino." Wolf pulled a slip of paper out of his pocket. After reading it, he returned his attention to the toad. "We're after one specific thing here. Nothing more, nothing less. You're going to help us find it."
Despite his fear, Beltino wondered what that one specific thing could be. The vault complex contained millions of items, going back hundreds of years. Just what could he want down there?
They stepped through the vault door into a small parking garage. Instead of cars, small electric carts waited in an orderly line along one wall. Wolf grabbed Beltino round the wrist and flung him into the front passenger seat of one of the carts, before taking a seat in the cargo bed. The toad felt the tip of Wolf's blaster prodding him in the back of the head. Jackal took the driver's seat, while Husky tossed the guard's corpse into a second cart and got behind the wheel.
"Lucky man today Beltino." Wolf chuckled. "You get to ride up front."
Setting out, they glided through an industrial gray hallway, garish fluorescent lights reflecting off of the smooth concrete. These vaults spread out like a maze, expanded many times over several decades through a natural underground cavern beneath the base. You could get lost for hours if you didn't know where you were going. That didn't seem to deter Wolf though. He read off the slip of paper, calling out to Jackal which way to go at each intersection.
Meanwhile, Beltino wondered what he could do to escape. He couldn't think of anything that wouldn't get him killed. It was three on one, and he was unarmed. He'd have to cooperate for now and pray an opportunity came up later. But whatever he did, he knew he needed to do it fast. They wouldn't need him anymore once they got what they came for.
"How's your son doing these days?" Wolf placed his muzzle on the toad's shoulder, speaking directly into Beltino's ear. "Still working for that pup Fox McCloud?"
The toad froze. One of the most wanted men in the galaxy sat behind him, with a laser pointed at his back. Wolf seemed to enjoy making him uncomfortable, laughing as he pulled back.
"Boss, we're here." Jackal pointed at the door beside them.
Another thick metal door towered above them, set into the right side wall. Like the entrance to the vault, it too had a double keycard, double retinal scan setup. After repeating the unlock routine with Beltino and the guard's corpse, the vault door hissed open. Cool mist poured out through the opening.
A massive warehouse greeted them on the other side, racks of metal shelves standing several stories tall. Shiny metal boxes and cases of various sizes filled the shelves, the room so large you couldn't see the other end from the entrance. Wolf stepped into the warehouse first. He didn't look happy as he eyed the size of the place.
"All right, Mr. Toad." Wolf whirled around. "What's the fastest way to find a specific case in here? We don't have all night. "
Wolf mentioning his time limit gave Beltino an idea. Maybe he could slow them down. Security would notice the break-in eventually, even if the systems were compromised. So the longer he stalled, the bigger the chance he would survive and these ruffians would get caught.
"W-w-well…" Beltino cleared his throat, pointing at a terminal set into the wall. "That computer has a search program."
"Then get to work." Wolf shoved him towards the terminal, Beltino almost falling face first into the mounted keyboard. After catching his balance and dusting himself off, he typed in his username and password, pressing the enter key. A message appeared on the screen in big red letters.
Invalid Username/Password. Two attempts left.
Wolf narrowed his eye. "Problems, doctor?"
"S-s-sorry, hard to focus." Beltino ran a hand across his forehead. "I must've hit the wrong key somewhere. Let me try again."
He typed his credentials in again. The screen showed another message.
Invalid Username/Password. One attempt left.
Wolf growled, stepping right behind him. "For your sake…" The lupine let his breath linger on the toad's neck. "You better get it right next time."
"Of course." Beltino wiped the sweat from his brow, this time punching each key one by one, as if to make sure he wouldn't make a mistake this time. He pushed the enter key, and a nasty message appeared.
Too many failed logins. Your account has been locked. Contact IT support.
Snarling, Wolf grabbed Beltino round his collar and smashed his face into the concrete wall next to the terminal, shattering his glasses. He screamed, eyes shut as he felt the glass puncture into his flesh. His face burned in pain as he rubbed his hands over it, trying to brush away all the shards.
Before he could finish, Wolf whirled him back around and yelled into his face, teeth snapping with every word. "You can't remember your stupid password?! How the hell am I supposed to find what I'm looking for now?"
Beltino winced, feeling spittle stinging the wounds on his face. He couldn't speak with how blinding the pain was, but finally managed to stammer out a reply. "S-s-sorry! I don't work well under pressure!" The toad forced himself to open up one eye, the other having gotten nicked across the eyelid by one of the shards.
Wolf glowered at Beltino for a moment or two. Taking a break from speaking seemed to have calmed him down a bit. "Okay Mr. Toad, since I'm in such a good mood today…" The lupine pushed him away to arm's length. "I'll give you a second chance. Do you know another way to find the case? Because if you don't, I don't need you anymore." Although he couldn't see well without glasses, Beltino recognized Wolf's hand moving towards his holstered blaster.
For Beltino, those last words hung in the air like a death sentence. Nonetheless, he stammered out a reply. "Uh, the cases might be arranged in numeric order. It's worth a—"
"Harry! Franco!" Wolf turned around, hollering at his men. "Check the racks by number! I'll stay here with Beltino."
As his compatriots ran off to search, Wolf dragged over a nearby crate and sat on it, blaster drawn and pointed in Beltino's general direction. Several minutes passed without a word. The toad trembled where he stood. Was he out of options now? As soon as those two found the case, he would be a dead man. Was there anything else he could do to get away?
"Harry!" Franco called out. "Find a forklift! Case might be high up!"
Beltino blinked. That gave him another idea. Some time ago, the IT division created an app to control the vault's forklifts with your smartphone. Personnel costs had forced the Cornerian Army to cut positions here in the vaults, so this was meant to help automate the jobs of the old workers. He'd gone to a training class on the app along with everyone else who had vault access, but that was a few months ago. Since he only came to the vaults once in a blue moon, he'd never really used the app and forgotten about it until now.
But if he could just remember how it worked, it might be just what he needed as a distraction.
Beltino knew his phone well enough to hit the buttons without looking. Maybe he could start the app with the phone still in his pocket. He entered his password, and peeked when Wolf wasn't looking. The main menu showed on the screen, as well as he could tell without glasses. If he remembered right, the forklift app was the last icon on the left on the bottom row. Tapping it, he spared another glance.
Now he saw a live camera feed on the screen, showing a forklift somewhere in this room. Where was it though? Maybe if he moved it, he would hear it. Beltino moved his finger across the screen. A pile of crates collapsed behind Wolf, exposing the forklift connected to his app.
Wolf turned around, gaping at the sight. "That thing's moving by itself?"
Beltino couldn't believe he was about to do this, but knew it was his only chance to escape. Taking a deep breath, the toad slid his finger across the touch screen as fast as he could. The forklift's rubber wheels squealed on the polished concrete floor, the machine barreling straight at Wolf. He just managed to jump out of the way before it crashed into a wall. By then Beltino was out the vault door, jumping into one of the electric carts, peeling out as he sped away. Goodness, he felt like he was in an action movie or something doing this, and it scared the hell out of him. Did Slippy do things like this with Star Fox every day?
A laser flashed past his shoulder, almost scorching his white coat. He ducked, sparing a glance back. Wolf drove after him now in the other cart, firing his blaster as he went.. Beltino weaved his cart back and forth, trying to keep the mercenary from getting a good shot. But it was hard to see much of anything without his glasses, the walls looking like giant white blurs in his vision.
One shot finally struck Beltino in the back. The toad screamed, clapping a hand over the blaster wound. The pain was so blinding he shut his eyes, unable to focus on the road ahead. With a loud crunch, the cart buried itself into the concrete wall at the end of the corridor, sending him flying head first over the steering wheel. He hit the wall with a sickening smack, sliding down the wall and coming to a rest on the cart's crumpled hood.
"Got ya, sneaky toad." Wolf holstered his blaster, stepping out of the cart.
He took off running towards the wreck and was soon at Beltino's side. The toad laid there, knocked unconscious. Wolf sighed and shook his head. He should have been paying more attention before. Was he losing his edge now that he was getting older?
Grunting, he leaned over to pick up Beltino. "Damn you're heavy for a short guy." Wolf heaved him off the wreck, carrying him over to the second electric cart. After laying the scientist in the back, the lupine took a moment to crack his neck, rotating the arm he'd used for carrying. "Makin' my job harder than it needs to be too."
Of course, Wolf was going to kill him once they found the case, so could he really blame the poor guy?
"Harry, Franco, I'm coming back," Wolf spoke into his radio. "Beltino tried sneaking away but I caught him. Keep looking."
"Roger," Franco answered.
The lupine steered the cart back into the warehouse, looking for his teammates. Despite the massive size of the space, it wasn't too hard to find them. Every sound echoed, so Wolf followed the sounds of boxes being pushed around and them calling out to each other. Rounding the corner, Wolf spotted the pair inspecting a handful of small cases stacked on an eye-level shelf.
"So, found the case yet?"
"Yeah boss, you're just in time."
Franco smiled as he held a small silver case by its handle. It almost looked like a businessman's metal briefcase, exempting the government branding and the heavy duty metallic brackets holding it closed.
Feeling a little tense, he motioned for Franco to hand it over. After the jackal passed it to him, the lupine examined it. The barcode showed the number they were after. A warm feeling of relief washed over Wolf. Until now, all they knew about the case was its number in this warehouse. The client hadn't even provided an identifying photograph or the case's dimensions and weight. He'd been afraid the item would end up being something bigger and heavier, but this was small enough to slip inside one of their backpacks. That would make things a lot easier.
"I wonder what's in that thing." Franco turned his head to look at it from all sides. He turned to the husky. "What do you think it is, Harry?"
The husky shook his head. "Dunno, but I'd really like to know."
Wolf's curiosity was aroused too. However, the client specifically said not to open it. If they did, the contract was null and void. He wasn't about to sacrifice a one hundred million credit contract for a small peek.
Franco spared a moment to look back at the rack they'd taken it off of. "Hey, there's another case here. Looks just like that one."
Everyone crowded to take a look. Sure enough, it was as Franco said. Same metallic briefcase and same heavy-duty brackets sitting on the shelf.
"Makes you think, don't it?" Harry eyed the second container. "If there's two of what's in this case, why weren't we told to get both?"
While intrigued, Wolf needed to keep his teammates on task.
"The client's contract was to steal only this case." Wolf slipped it into his backpack. "If she wanted both, she should have put it in the contract. The other case isn't our problem." He slid the backpack back over his shoulders. "Anyway, we got what we came for, so let's scram. Giichi's done a good job dealing with the security so far, but we're lucky an alarm hasn't gone off yet."
As if by cue, loud klaxons echoed through the underground vaults. Wolf cursed himself for tempting fate. Harry and Franco looked around, the lupine seeing the panic in their eyes. "Hey, look at me." He stepped over, using his hands to point their muzzles towards his face. "We're not caught yet. Let's focus on how to get out of this, okay?"
A loud groan rose up from the electric cart nearby. Wolf turned around to see Beltino still in the back, moaning but still unconscious. In all the excitement, he'd forgotten about him.
"Hmm…" A toothy smile crossed Wolf's face.