Typed this while vacationing in Vegas for Thanksgiving...Enjoy! Remember to R&R, no flames.
Chapter 2: Hostile Welcome

Fox, Krystal, Falco, and Slippy left their arwings just outside the ruins of the city before proceeding on foot.Earlier that week they briefed on the bombing of six different small towns on Katina. They had been asked to search the cities while precautions were being set up to protect all the remaining cities from the same fate. So far they had visited all the other cities but found no survivors. This was the last town left and though there very much hope about finding survivors they searched anyways.They all were silent as they walked into the town to see what very little remained.

Falco was the first to speak. "Man, all the other sites look like nothing compared to this, there's nothing left but bricks and mortar."

"All those poor people." Krystal said deeply saddened.

"Ok." Fox said pushing the emotion from his voice "I think all know what we're going to find, but we have to check. Krystal, can you see if you can sense any other form of life in this town."

"Ok, I'll see." Krystal answered before she closed her eyes and began to concentrate. After a few moments she spoke with a disappointed tone in her voice. "I'm not getting anything so far but I'll keep looking." This comment did nothing to encourage the others but then Krystal spoke again, but this time joyfully. "Wait, I can sense someone. Give me a second." As the rest waited their hopes lifted. "Ok, there is one survivor. I'm getting mixed emotions from him; there is anger, sadness, despair, and pain. Hold on, there's a new one, it seems like rage and it looks like he is about to….Oh my gosh! Everyone move!"

The team dove for cover but Fox was a fraction of a second too slow and the beam from a high powered sniper rifle pierced his arm.

Fox let out a howl of pain before he rolled into an unsightly heap behind the ruins of a store.

"Fox!" Krystal screamed. She ran from her cover behind the twisted remains of a car with no heed to her own safety just that of Fox. She propped him up against the wall before checking his wounds. Fox winced in pain as Krystal touched his arm.

"Your arm is broken but it was a clean shot so there is no chance of infection."

"Don't worry Krystal." Fox said looking into Krystal's tear stained face. "It's just a broken arm, I'll live. We need to get this guy before another one of us is hurt, and I have a plan that will help us. I will stay here and distract him while you and the guys circle around and grab him. Do you know where he is?"

Krystal nodded and said, her voice cracking, "Ya, he's in the remains of a three story building in the middle of town."

"Good." Fox replied wincing again, "Go on and sneak up behind him, but under no condition should he be harmed! He's just an angry and scared civilian."

Krystal nodded again and slowly she, Slippy, and Falco started their way around to the back of the building. As they circled about Fox started his end of the plan.

"So, what's your name?" Fox had to yell to be heard.

The reply was yelled back almost instantaneous. "You don't deserve to know my name scum! But I should know yours so I can write them on your graves!"

Fox was caught off guard by the venom in this guy's voice, but bit back an angry retort knowing that this person was just a civilian who had lost everything. "My name is Fox McCloud, leader of the Starfox team. We've been sent by General Peppy to search the bombed cities for survivors. We're not here to harm you, we are here to help!"

Fang lay in the prone position on the third floor of a partially collapsed building. He had been checking his supplies when he saw the ships land. He had instantly stopped what he was doing and took up his sniping position from which he could see past all remains of the town.

As he saw the team enter the ruins he had to resist the urge to shoot all four of them right then and there. But as he lay there his thoughts went back to his dead family and friends so his mind, clouded by rage, overpowered his resistance and he took aim at the lead red fox and fired.

But he dodged! How could he have dodged? Fang's shot should have pierced the Fox's heart, how did he know that Fang had shot? Fang remembered the blue vixen yelling at the rest, but she couldn't have seen him he was hid perfectly. Fang checked the silencer on his weapon to see if it had malfunctioned, but it was in perfect condition.

After the lead Fox said that they were the Starfox team Fang began to wonder. "Maybe they aren't venom soldiers, what if they are really here to help?" Fang thought of all the news specials he had seen on the team. "They had just gotten a new member a while back. I think they said her name was Krystal, but still how did she know he had shot?" Regardless of how she had done it Fang silently thanked her for doing so because he would have hated himself for eternity if he had killed a good guy. "Why did I shoot without knowing who they were!"

Fang was brought back to reality by the sound of booted footsteps on the stairs. He turned around in time to see a blue avian, who he assumed was the ace pilot Falco, standing in the doorway with his blaster held high. Fang knew that even if they were the good guys he had shot at them so they were bound to be pissed.

"Don't move!" Falco yelled still aiming his blaster at Fang.

Fang put down his rifle then put his hands out in front of him showing that he was unarmed, but he had to duck quickly to avoid a charge blast from taking off his head. He was able to dodge it but the blast still was too close for comfort and also singed a few hairs off the top of Fang's head. "What the heck did you do that for?" Fang yelled as he gingerly felt his still smoking head fur.

"I told you don't move." Falco said smugly sporting a stupid grin. "And you know next time you won't be so lucky." Fang was about to lose it before he had an idea but for it to work he had to get Falco railed up.

"Easy to act tough when you have a gun pointed at an unarmed civilian. Why don't you come over here and fight me like a man, or do you want to wait for the others. I bet Fox could do better than you even with his injured arm." Fang saw he had hit the right button because Falco was fuming. Fang was surprised how easy it was to tip Falco over the edge, he let a smile appear on his face which just made Falco even more angry which Fang thought was perfect.

Falco took the bait and took a step forward wanting nothing more than to beat the smile off this guy's face, but he instantly regretted it as he triggered a booby trap and was pulled into the air and hung by his ankle. His blaster was flung from his grasp and he hung there still as angry as a taunted bull. Fang let out a laugh.

"Come one bird brain did you really think I would just let someone sneak up on me like that. You're even dumber than you look." Fang laughed again but this one was cut short as Slippy came running in through the door. "I wouldn't step there if I was…." Fang's warning came too late and Slippy triggered the second trap which made a giant pot fall and get stuck on his head. In his now blinded state Slippy started to run in a circle while trying to pull the pot off his head. Fang was on his way over to help the trapped toad when he saw a third figure standing in the doorway.

He looked over to see the vixen Krystal wearing a deep blue flight suit that blended in with her exquisite blue fur. Fang's heart skipped a beat and he stood there with a dumb expression on his face for a moment before he realized that she was speaking to him.

"Huh, what?" was all he could muster.

"What happened here?" Krystal repeated motioning to her two trapped comrades.

"Oh, well, you see, I, well." Fang stammered for a second more before he slapped himself out of his dazed state and finally answered clearly. "I didn't mean for the toad to get caught, I tried to warn him but it was too late, but the bird deserved what he got since he almost succeeded in removing my head from the rest of my body!"

Krystal turned on the still hanging Falco with a mixed expression of anger and disappointment. "Falco, we were told not to kill him and still that doesn't stop you. You should be ashamed of yourself because you almost cost an innocent person his life!" After Krystal had reprimanded him, Falco's face resembled that of a young boy who just had a talking to from his mother. She left him to sulk and she and Fang talked for a moment longer, forgetting the predicament that Slippy was in.

Slippy, having given up the hopes of removing the pot from his head, decided to instead see if he could still help so he reached for a stun grenade from his belt, but with his lack of sight he accidentally grabbed a normal grenade, primed it, and threw it in the direction of the voices, which actually were muffled by the pot so the grenade first bounced off the wall and then went the right direction while the precious seconds counted down to the eminent explosion.

Fang was talking to Krystal, and enjoying every moment of it, when he noticed a blinking red light in the corner of his vision. He turned his head to see the grenade only feet way from Krystal and closing by the second. He acted instinctively and ran into Krystal, pushing her out of the way. He had successfully gotten Krystal out of harm's way but now he was in the path of the active grenade. There was a loud bang and a flash of light and Fang was thrown out of the building and he landed with a sickening thump on the ground below.

That's gotta hurt.