A/N: To clear up any confusion on why the quality of the chapters after this goes down, it's because I'm rewriting the first 14 or 15 chapters of this story. I was tired about how bad it looked, so I'm fixing it with some help from a friend.

-o0o-

It had been a while since Fox had done some real training. Of course, after the aparoid invasion, there wasn't much to do. Everything was peaceful, and there wasn't such a real need for Star Fox anymore.

That didn't stop the vulpine, however, from recruiting a few new members. You never knew when peace would be shattered.

Fox ended up finding a few ex-Cornerian military officers, Fay and Miyu, and recruited them to his team.

Fay was a good scientist and mechanic, making up where Slippy fell short. She was very… excitable, too. Sometimes it was even enough to give Fox or Falco a migraine.

Miyu, however, was a different story. She was relatively quiet, and experienced in combat. She proved to be an excellent sparring partner for Fox.

And so the two were training in the resident gym of the Great Fox. The vulpine was glad to have the exercise, but he was shocked at the skills she put on display.

"Damn, Miyu! What the hell was that?"

She only smiled, facing Fox with a ready stance, her arms kept close to herself protectively. The vulpine charged at her, prepared to give a drop kick, but she anticipated that and blocked, jabbing her elbow into his ribs. He gasped in pain and fell over, his breath knocked from him.

"Jeez, Miyu! Lighten up a little, will you?" Fox asked, panting.

"Somebody's out of practice, huh? That's what happens when you take on too many flying missions with Falco," She said, offering him a hand. The vulpine graciously took it, hoisting himself up.

"Well, I'd rather fly," Fox remarked dryly, snorting.

"That isn't all there is to being a mercenary. You have to know how to fight." Miyu stepped back a few paces, getting into more of an offensive stance this time. "Come on, let's run it again."

They faced each other again, Miyu going on the offensive this time. She jumped at him, aiming her foot at his face, but he blocked the attack, swinging his fist at her face. She traded punches with him until Fox grabbed her wrist and twisted her over, kicking her in the stomach.

She coughed and sputtered for a second, and came to punch him in the face. He grabbed her wrist with incredible speed, yanked it back, and knife handed her in the nose. This time, she toppled over to the floor, gasping for breath.

"Wow, nice moves Fox," She remarked dryly while trying to catch her breath. The lynx was trying to sound cocky, but it was ridiculous to hear when she was wheezing.

"Thanks. I guess ground fighting is pretty cool. May not be as exciting as dogfights in the sky, but I could handle it," the vulpine said, reaching down a hand and helping her up this time.

"Let's call it a day. Besides, Peppy told me that he was expecting a call from the General before we went up here," Miyu said.

"And that means we've got a mission, doesn't it?" Fox questioned, sarcasm dripping in his voice.

"Of course, Fox. Now come on, we've got a mission to report for. Peppy will be waiting on us," the lynx said, grabbing a water bottle from the bench.

"Yeah."

The lynx responded to the vague answer by flicking his ear roughly, making him yelp in surprise and pain. She snickered as the two made for the exit, Fox rubbing his wounded ear.

"Not cool," he whined.

"Tough it out, you big baby," Miyu chastised, chuckling.

The two left the training room of the Great Fox, making their way to the elevator. Peppy had apparently told Miyu about expecting a call, so it was more than likely Pepper had a mission for them, and to report to the bridge after the training session.

"You know, I've never seen a move like that. The one where you hooked your leg around my neck to drag me down," Fox remarked, rubbing his neck subconsciously, as if he still felt the pain from the move.

Miyu shrugged as if it was no big deal."Well, I've gotten lots of practice in. Being an ex recon officer has its perks. I've learned to freerun and fight."

"Well, it's a good thing I picked you and Fay up from Katina all those months ago, then. I don't know how the team would've turned out after the aparoids, otherwise."

"You wouldn't have gotten your asses kicked in training, that's for sure," Miyu remarked.

"Shut up, Miyu," Fox said, nudging her playfully.

The elevator doors opened, and the two stepped out into the bridge, where Peppy, Fay, Falco, Slippy, and Krystal were waiting.

"Hey guys! How did the training session go?" The little white canine, Fay, asked Fox enthusiastically.

"It went-"

"He got his ass whooped," Miyu interjected, smirking.

Falco nodded in agreement, saying, "Well, no surprise there."

"Falco!" Fox cried indignantly. He wasn't surprised the avian would say something like that, but it still hurt to hear.

"Whatever. Come on, General is about to be pulled up," the avian said, chuckling.

On the monitor, General Pepper appeared, the bloodhound looking grim as always.

"Greetings Star Fox. I must spare the usual pleasantries, as I have an urgent mission for you."

"We were hoping you did. What is it going to be this time?" Peppy asked, curiosity evident in his tone.

"We have a situation in Corneria City. Our organized crime rate has shot up dramatically, and burglary has been at a high. A group of people who we haven't determined the identity of has been robbing from labs with top secret research that is highly sensitive." The General paused, as if he was trying to create an air of drama. Fox almost laughed at that.

"As you know, the city is well monitored and protected from the ground, so they'll be coming in from the roofs. We need your most athletic members to investigate and see if you can capture one of the thieves. I'll send you any and all data we have received from the robberies."

"Most athletic, huh?" That would be me, Falco, Miyu, and Fay," Fox murmured thoughtfully.

"What about me?" Krystal asked.

"You don't exactly have much skill with running across skyscrapers with a very real chance of falling, and frankly, you're built a little too average to be any use climbing buildings," Fox explained apologetically.

Krystal didn't seem satisfied with his explanation, but she didn't fight his reasoning.

"Fine. I'll stay with the other two."

"I am glad that's settled. We need you to get to work as soon as possible. We are also notifying authorities to not chase you when they find you on the rooftops. That is all; Pepper out."

As the General finished, Peppy turned to face the rest of his team. He cleared his throat to speak.

"Alright, I'll set us down near Corneria City's financial and living district, in the city center. The highest building are located there. In the meantime, get changed into clothes better suited for ease of movement, and please, carry one blaster pistol only. You'll need to move as fast as you can. Meet in the hangar when you are ready," Peppy ordered.

"Got it," Fox said, leaving the bridge to his room.

The vulpine walked to his quarters, and looked in his wardrobe for something easy to wear. He settled for a grey tank top, blue leather hoodie, white shoes, and black pants, with white gloves. Fox also put a grey and blue sash on around his shoulder. Lastly, the vulpine strapped a pistol to his hip, and put on his trademark scarf. Grabbing a picture of Fox and his late father, shoving it in a sash pocket, he left the room, going for the hangar.

Fox kept the picture on him because he never wanted to let it go out of his sight. Besides his scarf, it was the only thing the vulpine had left of his dad.

Walking into the spacious hangar, the vulpine saw that Falco had already arrived, with a simple white tank top and black pants, with blue sneakers on his feet.

"Glad to see you went for something relatively simple," Fox said.

"Thanks. I'd rather not be flashy, Mr. Sash and Scarf," the avian mentioned, eyeing Fox's attire.

"I needed a way to store something, and this scarf is precious to me, you know that."

"Yeah. Just making a little fun, is all. Chill out, Fox," the avian murmured, chuckling.

A few moments later, Miyu and Fay arrived in the hangar. Fay had a zipped up grey hoodie, blue pants, black shoes, and blue gloves. Miyu was wearing a blue tank top, white pants, black gloves, and grey shoes.

"Well, I'm glad we're all matching," Fox stated.

"It'll be easier to identify each other. I wouldn't want to be beating you up on accident," Miyu replied, grinning.

"Very funny." Fox snorted, crossing his arms. "I think Peppy has almost set the ship down. Everyone has a comm, right?"

The team nodded.

"Good."

The hangar bay doors opened up, and the group exited the Great Fox. Peppy contacted him almost as soon as they left and came upon the beautiful city around them.

"Fox? You've got an elevator that will take you to the top of the building. Seems this one was robbed a week ago; it was the most recent report. I'll give you directions to the first crime scene once you're up in the skyline," he said over comm.

"Understood."

Closing comms, Fox led them to a skyscraper across the street from their landing spot. They all piled in the elevator for the office building, and hit roof access. The space was cramped, enough so that the vulpine almost punched Falco a few times as the lift rattled. A few claustrophobic minutes later and the doors opened, revealing the city skyline sprawling in front of them.

The vulpine never really took the time to appreciate how beautiful Corneria City was. The sprawling skyscrapers seemed to go on forever. Fox remembered just then why this planet needed to be protected.

"Alright, Peppy. We're here. Where's the first location?"

"Should be in an office building south of your location. One of the taller buildings, has a black glass trim. The top floor is where the robbery occurred."

"Thanks. We'll be there soon."

"So, where to, Fox?" Falco asked.

Fox glanced around, looking for the building. He spotted it; it was one of the tallest buildings in the city, and it was not too far away. The structure was made out of this black granite and blue panes of glass.

"There. Top floor," he said, pointing to the building.

The group started running to the building, vaulting over gaps and ledges. Fox noticed that Miyu was much more comfortable with freerunning than everyone else in the team. She was quite a ways ahead, doing all sorts of fancy moves. Traveling across the roofs did make moving from place to place quite easy, however. They reached the building in no time at all.

"We've got to find a way up to the top floor," Miyu said.

"Hmm. Oh, look!" The others looked where Fay was pointing to excitedly. "I found a ledge leading to a service elevator on the building!" The little canine exclaimed, pointing to the lift.

Miyu took the lead, jumping onto the ledge and moving towards the elevator. Fox and the others followed. The lynx gracefully climbed into the lift, waiting for Fox. He tried to jump in, but missed, narrowly grabbing the edge. Miyu helped him in.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Miyu."

Falco and Fay climbed in without any problems, and Miyu hit the button for the elevator to rise. It slowly worked it's way up the side of the building, eventually reached the top. They clambered out, and Fox opened the roof access door, leading them inside the building. The group descended a floor, and came to a single door at the end of a hallway. Fox entered it first, slowly, and he noticed it was completely ransacked.

Drawers were opened and looked through, and computers were left running. The vulpine thought that it was supposed to be a research center of sorts.

"Damn, look at the state of this place. What the hell did these people want?" Falco wondered aloud.

"I don't know. Everyone, split up and look around."

Fox took to looking around the edges of the center, looking through the doors leading out. One of them caught his attention over the others, however. It was looked as if it was supposed to be locked, but the door was bent at an odd angle. It also had a large biohazard sign next to it.

Fox pushed the door open, and cautiously stepped inside. He noted that the room was small, and sterile. There was some sort of freezer at the end of it, and it was hanging open. The vulpine noticed another bio hazard sign on the wall. The contents of the freezer were little tubes, all of them empty. He guessed that the filled ones were taken. He picked up an empty vial.

"What are you hiding?"

He walked back out of the room, pocketing the vial in his sash. He continued looking for clues until Fay started shouting that she had found something. Fox ran over to her with everyone else.

"What did you find?" Falco asked.

"Well, I was looking, and apparently these people are researching some sort of bioweapon. They kept it hidden around here somewhere, did you find it?" Fay asked.

Fox reached into his pocket, and pulled out the empty vial. "You mean whatever was supposed to be in this?"

Fay's eyes widened slightly. "Yeah."

"Well? What did it do, because all of the full vials were ransacked."

"Well, it wasn't clear, but it doesn't sound good." Fay bit her lip, looking around the lab.

"This thing has the capability to destroy any living thing it touches, kind of like a special acid that is programmed to target organic tissue. So whoever took this, well, they have more power than anybody should hold," she continued.

"Oh, dear lord. It's just one interplanetary crisis after another with you guys, isn't it?" Miyu asked sarcastically.

"It's why you joined in the first place," Fox said, grinning.

"We need to find some security footage. Maybe we can figure out who these robbers are," Falco said.

"Yeah. Maybe there's a server room around. This place looks pretty top secret, so I'd imagine they would have a separate set of security cameras cut off from the other feed. When you find the room, make sure to take a look at the past fees." Fox thought she was done, but then she snapped her fingers, remembering something.

"Oh yeah! By the way, you'll need a shotgun to get all of the data for us to review. I just developed it; all you do is set the shotgun on the console and let it do the rest. I wonder how cool it'll look," Fay said thoughtfully, handing Fox the shotgun. It was a small white prism, about the length of his hand.

Fay liked to tinker and make new inventions for the team, and she made them often. It seemed she knew exactly what the team would need for a mission at any time.

"Got it. Miyu, come on. You and I will look for it," Fox said.

They ran off, exiting the lab and looking through the stark white halls for a server room. Fox noticed a vent at the far end of the hall.

"Miyu! Give me a boost, will you?" He asked, pointing to the cover.

"Gotcha."

She positioned herself below the cover, crouching and holding her hands out. Fox ran at her, and put a foot on her hands. She pushed him up, and he tore the cover out, and climbed up. Thanks to his thin form, he was able to crawl through the ventilation very easily. Fox looked through every cover for a security room, and finally found one at the end of a branched path. He pushed the cover down, and dropped out.

"I'm in the security room," Fox said on comm.

Fox saw a few video monitors up on a glass screen, where his team was being observed. The table that was in front of him was a giant touchscreen and had a keyboard and some other features on it.

The vulpine set the shotgun on the console, and it lit up for a moment. He picked it up, and decided to look at the footage. He touched a few things on the console until a feed from a week ago pulled up. The cameras were showing the roof access, main lab, and the room containing the bioweapon.

Sure enough, a group of five people in all black ran into the building via roof access. Fox couldn't make out their faces, though. The lab cam showed them looking through everything from drawers to computers. Their faces were hooded, but Fox could see their tails. One of them was green and rather scaly looking. Another, curly and raven colored. He also saw a bushy, grey tail.

"No. It couldn't be them," Fox whispered in disbelief.

They proceeded into the bioweapon chamber. The green-tailed one forced the door to the freezer open, and the raven tailed one grabbed all of the full vials and put them in a backpack. The grey tailed one proceeded to turn around and speak to the other four. They seemed to be getting into a heated argument, with the grey one going so far as pulling his hood off and snarling at the two unknowns. Fox saw who it was.

"Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me right now."

It was Wolf O'Donnell. He was the thief.

To be continued….