Arc I: The Aquas Informant
Part 2: Portico
Fox sat on a flat, gray bench covered with a vinyl-based leatherette. Crossing his legs and pulling them to his torso, he curled into a ball and listened to the faint whine of the Great Fox's six turbofan engines. Only a half hour remained until the massive aircraft was scheduled to arrive at a coastal airport in Aquas, located in a city named Avenura. According to General Pepper, the informant was in the nearby suburb of Portico – a small resort town best known for its beaches and tourist accommodations. The boredom of waiting to reach his destination gnawed at him, but it also gave him time to ponder what he had lost.
With the transport set on autopilot, Scarlet elected to remain on the top level as opposed to the cargo area, where Fox found temporary solace. His helicopter gunship occupied most of the cavernous space, along with his unit's numerous weapons caches and pieces of equipment. His mind pondered the upcoming meeting with the informant, which was made more difficult due to his projected arrival time of 0120 hours in the Aquas time zone. He assumed that searching out the informant at that time would prove fruitless; and based on that, he and Scarlet had already arranged for a hotel room in Portico.
Looking at his watch, he observed the two analog hands moving into place and showing a time of 1:00 AM. He sighed and leaned forward once again until he heard the sound of boots on the set of metal stairs that led from the flight deck to the cargo area. Letting out another sigh, he sat up and locked eyes with Scarlet as she stepped onto the cargo deck and approached him. Anticipating the need to look like a civilian once the Great Fox landed, she wore a snug white V-neck shirt and a pair of ripped jean shorts that left her red and white leg fur exposed between her thighs and her black shins, covered by her combat boots. Through her shirt's thin fabric, Fox managed to make out the outline of a bikini top.
"You were serious about going to the beach, weren't you?"
Scarlet moved to within three feet of Fox and took a seat next to him on the bench. "You know, Portico is a tropical resort town. I wouldn't want to miss an opportunity like that, would I?"
Looking at the red vixen out of the corner of his eye, Fox answered, "We probably won't be able to get in touch with the informant at this hour, so I don't blame you for making the most of it. I was planning to go straight to bed after we caught a ride into Portico and checked into our hotel room."
"Aw, live a little and come with me, Foxie. I won't be out for long."
Fox turned his head towards Scarlet and gave her a faint grin. "I guess there's no harm in it."
The two sat in silence for a minute afterwards. Then, a thick voice came over the ship's loudspeakers. "Sierra Foxtrot 01, you are clear for landing on extended service runway 3A. Please confirm."
"I'll handle this," said Fox, pushing himself out of his seat.
- § -
With the Great Fox parked on the auxiliary aerospace pad at the massive Avenura airport, Fox and Scarlet stepped through the sliding exit doors after walking through the terminal area and having their passports cleared. Directly through the doors, a covered parking garage greeted their eyes, along with a white sedan with a taxi light mounted on the roof. The humid air that whistled through the parking deck smelled of salt and sand. Fox did not know the immediate temperature of the area, but it felt at least five degrees warmer than it did in Corneria City even though Avenura was roughly parallel with the Cornerian capital on a longitudinal axis.
As they approached the white taxi, the badger driving the vehicle climbed out of the drivers' seat and opened the trunk for his patrons, who dropped their bags into it and then slid into the back seat. Fox closed his door and leaned back into the seat while the driver circled around the front of the car. Then, Scarlet prodded his left side and quietly unzipped the front of her black jacket that she had donned before leaving the Great Fox. Fox began asking her what she was doing when he noticed a subtle pocket sewn into her jacket's liner. His eyes widened when Scarlet unzipped the pocket and pulled its contents out enough for Fox to see that she had managed to sneak a handgun through airport security.
Stunned and somewhat angry at the vixen, he whispered, "What were you thinking? You could have ruined everything if airport security ran a search on you! How did you even get that through the metal detector?"
"That's easy – I knew Aquas airport security was lax, and my gun is made of reinforced plastic and rubber. There's no metal in it," Scarlet replied, a grin on her face. "The bullets are made of a carbon composite that doesn't show up on metal detectors. However, they are insanely expensive."
Fox's attention drifted to the front of the car when the cabbie dropped into the drivers' seat and glanced over his shoulder at his passengers. "All right – where to?"
"We need to get to the Sandbar Hotel in Portico. How far is that from here?"
The badger stroked his muzzle and answered, "I'd say it's about fifteen minutes away. That's a nice place, you know. You're not going to have any complaints about staying there."
Fox sneaked a glance at Scarlet and said, "Well, she chose the hotel, so you can thank her for that."
The driver chuckled, then replied, "Looks like you got yourself a good one, mate."
Fox said nothing in response, although a sour expression worked its way onto his face in mere seconds. As if to add to his frustration, Scarlet elbowed him in the chest before leaning back into her seat and zipping up her jacket again.
"They always say that whenever we go somewhere together. It's really starting to piss me off," thought Fox.
Momentarily, the taxi exited the parking garage; and after navigating the complicated access roads, left the airport behind. Outside the airport, the scenery of Aquas whisked by through the cab's windows. Fox remembered his one other outing to the country, made up of several large islands off the coast of Zoness; although he spent so little time in the tropical area that very little of his visit stayed with him. Small, humble houses lay nestled amongst groves of palm trees that flanked the narrow two lane roads leading out of the city and into the surrounding suburban areas. The roads looked well-maintained, but their wear still stood out nonetheless. Fox guessed that beach traffic would be heavy during the day, but in the early hours of the morning, virtually no vehicles clogged the roadways. On several occasions, Fox caught glimpses of the pristine beaches through openings in the palm trees that lined the right side of the road.
After several miles of driving, the residential areas began to thin out, replaced by towering hotels and resorts that crowded the beachfront along with tourist-themed restaurants and gift shops that no local would ever consider entering. Among the numerous illuminated signs, the taxi driver spotted one marked "Sandbar Hotel" and slowed his car to a stop on the side of the road in front of the building.
The five-story Sandbar itself stood in contrast to some of the other gaudy hotels that surrounded it. Its sand-colored exterior offered no exceptional aesthetic appeal, but it looked clean and well kept. Upon seeing the building through his passenger side rear window, Fox expressed some surprise at Scarlet having picked such an unspectacular hotel. However, he liked the choice, seeing that the nightly rates at the Sandbar bested those of its flashy competitors.
After running his credit chip through the taxi's card reader, he opened his door and helped Scarlet out of the car. In return, she pulled both her bag and his out of the trunk and handed him the one with his team's winged fox emblem sewn onto it. The cab driver climbed back into his car and pulled away from the curb while his former passengers took in the view around them. A parking lot for the hotel appeared to the left of the building itself; and beyond it, the beach and the Central Lylat Ocean that separated Aquas and the eastern pangea from the western continent, home to Macbeth, the desert nation of Titania, the former Cornerian frontier state Katina, and a vast wasteland known as Venom.
While Fox yawned and rubbed his eyes after the long trip from Corneria City to Aquas, Scarlet nudged him and said, "You go ahead and get us checked in. I'll be out on the beach. Come and get me when you're finished."
Fox rolled his eyes. "Sure thing, honey."
He felt Scarlet punch him in the arm as he walked towards the sliding doors at the front of the hotel. Entering the hotel, he eyed the reception desk, where an exhausted skunk lady looked like she was on the verge of falling asleep in her chair behind the desk. Her eyelids dropped shut, but they snapped open when the sound of Fox's footsteps reached her ears. "Oh…er…welcome. Do you have a reservation?"
"It's under 'Altruis.' It should be a room with two queen beds on the third floor," Fox replied.
The receptionist typed in Fox's information, then looked up at him with a confirming smile. "I've got it right here. Looks like you already paid for it."
Fox nodded, grateful that Scarlet had offered to take a hit for the sake of the mission, even though she made it clear that Fox would owe her at some point in the future. While he observed the hotel lobby and took note of the breakfast area near the back of the atrium, the receptionist reached into a drawer next to her chair and handed him a sleeve containing two plastic cards. She then explained, "Your room number is 305, and as you probably know, the checkout time tomorrow is 11:00 AM. I hope you enjoy your stay, Mr. Altruis."
Fox blushed and considered explaining the fact that Altruis was not his family name, but decided to simply nod and exit the building for fear of exacerbating the situation. He shoved the card sleeve into the pocket of the khaki shorts that he had changed into before landing and walked towards the beach. The asphalt parking lot gave way to a wooden footbridge that snaked through towering reeds that brushed against his fur as he neared the beach.
At the edge of the bridge, he stopped and pulled his shoes off to prevent sand from entering them. Then, he stepped onto the beach and looked for Scarlet. His search did not take long. About thirty feet from the edge of the tide, the vixen lay on a black and red towel, adorned with a red string bikini that glowed when the moon shined on it. A towel identical to Scarlet's rested on the sand next to her. When Fox approached her, she looked up at him and gave him a smile that hinted at her being more tired than she would have believed.
Fox seated himself on the empty towel and looked at Scarlet. "Thanks for handling the hotel. I know your name doesn't show up on as many records as mine does, so that'll definitely make things a bit less conspicuous for us. Although a red vixen who could pass for a runway model lying on the beach at 1:30 in the morning is a bit suspicious."
Scarlet flashed her teeth. "I really don't see the harm. I don't get many chances to get away from it all, so when I do, I have to make sure I take them. I'm guessing you're going to head up to the room and crash now, right?"
Suppressing a yawn, Fox replied, "Yeah. How much longer are you going to be out here?"
"I'll pack up and come with you now," she answered, rolling over and pushing herself to her feet. "I just needed a few minutes to myself out here." She reached down and picked up her shirt and shorts, then pulled them on over her swimwear before shaking out her beach towel and throwing it over her shoulder.
Fox followed her lead and set to work shaking the sand out of his towel. "When are you getting up tomorrow morning?"
"Whenever you do," Scarlet replied. "Just shake me when you're ready. Don't worry, though – I promise you that I'm not going to sleep in like a drunken college student after a wild Friday night."
Fox had a feeling that she had spoken from experience; and on that note, he allowed a faint grin to grace his lips. Folding his towel in a disorganized manner, he turned back towards the Sandbar hotel and commented, "Hopefully this informant won't be as neurotic as I think he'll be. I've had to deal with too many guys like that already."
"Yeah, me too."
- § -
"Hopefully this informant won't be as neurotic as I think he'll be. I've had to deal with too many guys like that already."
"Yeah, me too."
Through a pair of high-powered camera binoculars, a solitary figure stood on the balcony of her hotel room, staring out at the beach where two vulpines had – for some strange reason – decided to lie out for only than a few minutes. She felt something unusual about the two when she happened to look out at the beach and noticed them. She recalled her commander informing her about a Cornerian mercenary who planned to speak with a former member of Anthracite Security who knew too much about her own faction's dealings. How her boss got the information, she did not know; but nonetheless, she understood that she could not allow the informant to divulge his secrets.
"The male fox must be the mercenary. If I tail him, he'll probably lead me right to the target. It should be simple after that. Man – I can't believe my luck."
For a minute, she watched as Fox and Scarlet walked across the wooden bridge that separated the hotel from the beach before they exited her range of vision and forced her to put her binoculars away. She listened to the sound of the ocean waves for a moment, indulging herself in the memories of her childhood that the salty waters brought to her mind. Then, she turned around with a frustrated scowl on her face and closed the glass partition between her room and the balcony. Back inside her hotel room, she ripped the blinds closed, obscuring the view of the ocean before she climbed onto the room's solitary bed and picked up a silver laptop that looked like it had seen better days.
She opened the screen, causing the computer display to light up and reveal a nondescript desktop background that only showed five icons. Scrolling her index finger along the laptop's trackpad, she double clicked on an icon in the top left part of the screen, marked "Deacomm Face-to-Face," then pulled her blocky, heavy-duty cell phone out of her sweat pants pocket and checked to make sure that she had enabled its built-in hotspot. The hotel offered free web service to its clients, but she knew that her upcoming conversation was too important to risk being leaked on the open server.
Seconds later, the program opened to reveal a loading screen that automatically connected with her employer. When the blue progress bar reached 100%, the screen expanded to fill the entire screen and began streaming a live video of a grizzled leopard in his early thirties. He wore a set of sage green military fatigues with 'MC' sewn onto his left chest pocket. He sat at a metal desk in a darkened room, illuminated only by a cheap LED desk light with a flexible stem and a mounting clip. Several windows could be seen behind him in the video, but blinds covered all of them.
Although his initial expression chilled his subordinate through her computer screen, his face softened as her end of the video appeared on the computer screen in front of him. "Good evening, Cassandra," he growled. "Do you have something to report?"
"Yes," the woman replied. "I think I located the mercenary you warned me about. For some reason, he and some vixen walked out to the beach in front of my balcony. I heard them talking about an informant, and I'm fairly certain he's our target."
"Anthracite Security's former engineering specialist Slippy Toad. It's obvious that General Pepper's mercenary is clueless to the danger of his situation. But still, you need to be careful when you act. He is no slouch; and even though he's not expecting any resistance, he's still more than capable of killing you, even without a weapon. He's that good."
"Don't worry, Commander. I won't give him the chance."
"You'd better not. With our current focus on East Fortuna and our intelligence operatives spread thin, I'd hate to lose someone like you. You've got one hell of a talent, Cassandra. Don't get yourself killed and lose it." He paused, then asked, "What about the vixen you saw with the mercenary? What did you make of her? Did you get any pictures that you can send to me?"
"I didn't recognize her. If I had to guess, she's probably his love interest or partner."
The leopard stroked his muzzle. "It might seem that way, but someone in his position would never allow for distractions on the job. There's a good chance that she's with him on the mission. I'm familiar with a few vixen mercenaries, so I think I might have a lead on who you saw. Just make sure you send me any pictures you took of her and the mercenary."
"I'll do that," the woman replied. "I'll contact you again tomorrow morning, Commander."
"Excellent. Thank you for your work."
With that, the video stream ended, returning Cassandra's computer back to the video conferencing menu. Closing her laptop, she placed it near the front of the bed and disrobed, dropping her clothes on the floor next to her bed before she burrowed under the covers and breathed a deep sigh of relief. She knew she needed to rise before the mercenary did if she wanted to have a good chance of tailing him, so she begrudgingly reached over and set her room's alarm clock for 5:00 AM. Then, she drifted off to sleep.
AUTHOR'S NOTE(S): Alright, I'll admit that the 21st century Great Fox's cargo area was heavily inspired by the interior of the Nomad from Metal Gear Solid 4. If you picked that up on your own, good for you. Hmm...now, part of me wants to plant subliminal Easter eggs throughout this story. We'll have to see about that.
