Chapter 3: Driven……
Kursed was forced to wait, the news was plastered with a video someone had captured of the vixen in her attempts to kill the assassin she'd nearly captured. She felt horrible now, there was no way for Katt to realize that it was even her old friend Krystal that was trying to destroy her. The vixen sighed as she looked to her Scythe, how close it had been, she had nearly stained her paws with her own friend's blood. The questions tore at her soul. Why would Katt be in league with the assassins that killed some of her closest friends? And when had she become so skilled? The old feline she'd known was good, after all she had trained in the same place as Fox, Slippy, and Falco…but, last night the young vixen had a bit of trouble catching her. It was clear that the feline had some sort of reasoning, but, as of now there was no way of knowing. The lights of Sol would never really get to the city today, harsh rain clouds drowned out the light of the bright yellow star, maliciously depriving the section of the planet wide city of daylight. A little rain never hurt anyone however, and this vixen wanted answers. Her step was fueled by a bitter mixture of rage and confusion…any mugger, or rapist would have made a dreadful mistake in targeting the vixen at this time. She always made it a habit of allowing a person the chance to turn back, or turn themselves in…the sort of chances she knew her old leader Fox McCloud would have given them; but, in her current state of mind, there was little chance of that. Were she to attack anyone now, the only thing she would see, would be a white cloaked murderer that she missed an opportunity on before…
It was as she found her seat on the tram leading to lower city, that she lowered her head into her paws, covering her eyes and rubbing them with her palms. The stress of the whole thing was driving her mad, she'd open her eyes and swear that she saw a Wraith for a moment, all before realizing that she was simply seeing things. The thoughts of the male that sat uncomfortably close to her didn't help matters any either. She could have sworn that any male she'd ever known had only one thing on his absent mind…with an exception of a few rare animals. She could almost feel his thoughts when he reached out a paw for her shoulder…
"Excuse me miss…I…."
He was met with a cold stare that caused him to freeze, "Touch me with that paw and I'll rip it off."
Seemingly swallowing a knot of fear that instantly developed in his throat, the raccoon instantly recoiled and fell back, slinking away from the psychotic female. She felt a bit bad for him on some level, after all he was only intending to ask her out to lunch…it would have been a nice change of pace for once; but she'd have felt out of place, even as far as feeling like she was doing something terrible to Fox, even though he was already dead. She wondered if these strange thoughts that she found inside the heads of males was simply natural…though she'd never actually seen the contents of McCloud's mind for some reason, she was certain she could see such thought in his eyes as well…though his were most likely of a more innocent nature, as any time she caught him looking at her in such a manner his face grew to be as red as an overripe tomato. It was strange to her, any other male that looked at her, or thought about her in that way made her furious, but, when it was Fox……
The vixen quickly shook her head, she was dwelling on the past again. Luckily the tug of the electrically guided tram coming to a halt was enough to rid her of the thoughts; there were much bigger, more present matters that she had to deal with…and she was certain that they began with a certain doctor. Standing at his door for a moment, the vixen huffed angrily…this animal had lied to her, about something very important. The vixen's Scythe slid through the door in a manner not much unlike a heated knife cutting through butter, but instead of the anticipated nothingness that she was certain awaited her inside, she found an old panda sitting in a small chair facing the door…
"I believe you owe me a door child."
Kursed sighed, "You knew I was coming." She pointed out, "Why didn't you say something?"
"Would that have spared my door of that rather undeserving fate?" He asked, "You are very angry; understandably so. I would much rather you took a bit of your anger out on that door, to sooth that bloodlust of yours for at least a moment."
The vixen quickly made her way to the small table he sat at slamming her palms onto the table's surface, "You're going to tell me where I can find those people…" She demanded.
Zang chuckled to himself, "Dear child. You honestly think there's anything you can do to frighten me?" He asked, "I'm over one hundred years old, more than half blind, and alone……killing me would only serve as an act of kindness, and torture is most definitely something you have no stomach for. With that Empathic power of yours, my pain would drive you mad far before it got to me."
Kursed gritted her teeth, he was right, she was Empathic…she could sense and feel emotion much more powerfully than she could thoughts. She sat down in another seat, with a hopeless sight…
"Do not be so distressed child." Zang said, "I have every intention of telling you where to find the Wraiths; but, only because I have faith that you will in time do the right thing." Kursed looked to him stunned, "Reiko has asked me to inform you of a meeting going on in Kew City." He said, "He believes that you will find this meeting most interesting, it will be held at this address."
The vixen reached out taking a small note from the doctor, "How do I know this isn't just some sort of set up?"
"You don't…" The doctor replied, "…all you can do for now is trust me when I tell you that nothing is as it seems. Do not always believe in what your eyes tell you…and try not to rely on telepathy to tell you everything, the minds of others can lie to you just as much as your own eyes."
Kursed thought for a moment before turning and heading to the doorway, "Thank you…and I apologize for the door."
"Kursed…" The bear called, "Remember that "he" would never rush blindly into killing without careful thought and consideration of the repercussions. You could end up doing something you will regret for the rest of your days."
The wet, pale furred vixen sighed…and with a light nod headed out into the rain. She couldn't wait to put this city and planet behind her…
******
Only about an hour passed before the vixen found herself floating in the planet's orbit. Taking a shower while her clothes dried, waiting for ROB to secure a safe path toward Kew. As she stood there under the hot stream of water, Kursed pulled her long hair over her shoulder to allow the water access to the back of her neck. She sighed as her thoughts moved back to the feline she'd nearly killed; how would she feel at this moment had she actually killed the animal? She wiped away a stray tear, regardless of how useless an act it was with the shower constantly washing over her face. With a jolt she suddenly was snapped out of an emotional state that held her there…ROB had just made a Warp Jump with the ship, he'd apparently found a safe passage. Personally calculated Hyperspace paths were a thing of the past and were very seldom used in the modern age; the slightest miscalculation could send a ship right through a star, or hurdling into an asteroid belt, however, with being built by Slippy the vixen had every confidence in ROB's logistic skills. So far he'd not steered her wrong. She knew that it would be a log, three day trip to Kew, which meant another jump between star systems, she grimaced at the thought of the trip ahead of her as she stepped out of her shower and wrapped herself in her light green bathrobe…and entering her room let out a dreary sigh while falling to her bed. She hated Kew City, it was one of the few things in the galaxy she could actually say she absolutely hated; it was a polluted, trash ridden hellhole, the sky was always tainted a hideous orange color, and the weather there was more erratic than that on Sauria. She only hoped that getting some sleep tonight would actually help her to stop thinking about it, most of the time she dreaded sleep for the return of the nightmares that plagued her mind…
******
She wasn't sure what hour it was, she knew it was early, far too early to be waking up…but, the nightmares gave her quite a start in waking her. She simply ran her paw down the front of her face. She didn't know why it was so hard. Why was it so difficult to keep the thoughts out of her head? She'd tried everything that her mother had done for her as a child to ward off bad dreams, but nothing worked, in the end the vixen found herself falling back to her old ways. Scanning the ship for anything that was off, or out of whack. She eventually found her way to a the docking bay; there wasn't much to do here either. She'd done repairs on everything in the large room, when she was transporting the doctor to his location. The vixen sighed, there had to be something to keep her mind busy, but, it seemed like the more she tried, the further she sunk. Finally however in a fit of desperation the young vixen headed to the ship's kitchen, and simply sat at a table helping herself to a cup of coffee…
"This is gonna be a long trip." She said to herself.
The vixen lay her head on the table with a yawn, "I could really use some more sleep though."
She hadn't even realized it before her arms gave out, causing her body to fall limply against the table, which tossed her mug of coffee to the floor. She'd lost so much sleep recently that it had finally caught up with her…
The exhausted young vixen woke on the floor, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She could feel the thoughts of a thousand animals all at once, the instant notion hit her; she was on Kew in the heart of the city. She slowly sat up on the cold metal floor and used her paws to press in on her lower back causing it to pop several times…
"Whew…" She sighed, "Best sleep I've have in weeks. Maybe I should sleep in the kitchen more often."
The white furred bounty hunter slowly made herself a cup of coffee, after cleaning up the spill from the other she'd had. She wondered just how long it was she'd been asleep there, or how many times it was she'd woken up through the night but, figured it was much better to simply leave it be. Right now however the vixen's mind was only on breakfast, she was hungry, very hungry which told her that she must have been out for some time indeed. Cooking for herself was something the vixen had come to fear, she hated admitting that of all places in Lylat, the kitchen was not somewhere she belonged. Kursed smiled, quite pleased with herself however, when she sat in front of a meal that wasn't burnt. It was as she sat there eating, that she looked over the paper she was given. What kind of meeting could be so important? And could she really trust the source of this information? If anything else she could always return to the old panda and use him as bait; he did, after all, seem to know this Reiko character pretty well. It was a short meal before she headed out into the city; it was the same damp cesspool she recalled. The city was dark, but, oddly enough she found that it wasn't raining just yet. Her short trip through the streets landed her at the building listed on the address she'd been given; something didn't feel right at all. The place she'd been given directions to was an old skyscraper near the center of the city. However, where better to hold a meeting than here? She thought. The vixen headed up the fire escape of the old building and found a small spot on the room overlooking the city, where she could watch the entrance to the building. As the hours passed however, the vixen became inpatient, and soon night set in. It was as she realized that she'd been sitting there all day that the vixen ground her teeth in anger, she should have known something wasn't right. This place didn't smell off at all, it just smelled……
******
Katina……
12:35pm……
******
A slightly tall animal in set of white robes stood at the edge of a skyscraper rooftop overlooking the beautiful city before him. The gray furred coyote pulled a white hood over his head and turned to several others dressed like him. One was much taller, with a huge build, his bright red furred tail gave away that the large animal was clearly a fox. Another was only just shorter than Reiko, like the others he dawned a white hood and robes, his tail however was tightly wrapped in bandages from base to tip, his build was a bit wider than the coyote's. The last of the animals was shortest of all of them, with a long pink furred feline tail…
"Akuba I'm still a little worried about Kursed." She said, "Don't you think pissing her off is the last thing we should do?"
Reiko sighed, "Trust me. I'd rather she was on our side, but, she means to kill us for some reason."
The larger fox stepped forward, "Look Katt. I agree with you…" He said, "But we had to give her the slip. We couldn't risk her following us. Andrew's still looking for McCloud…this is a prime opportunity for us to attack his Generals. We already heard that Scarlet is supposed to me here tonight…so stay focused."
"Creed's right…" Reiko said, "For now, at least. Stay focused on the job at hand, Scarlet knows we're out for Andrew's men so keep on your toes." He said, "When we get back to HQ we can see if Eight's found anything new on McCloud." He said, "They should be along any time now. Katt take Creed and head off to the first marker. Follow those fucks here and make sure they don't stray off."
Katt sighed, "Alright…you and Seven be careful."
As the young feline and fox headed off Reiko sighed looking to the feline, "I don't like lying to her like that." He said, "When are we gonna tell her the truth about McCloud? It's gonna make her pretty upset, you know I don't like seeing her cry."
Seven lowered his head, "Not sure, can't have her getting emotional in a crisis situation though." He said, "We need her…What are you gonna do about Kursed though? She nearly killed Katt as it was…she's good, maybe even better than in the rumors."
"You have no idea…" Reiko said looking to the sky, "Man that vixen's got a nice ass though. Scythe kinda scares me though." He said looking back to Seven, "She's far from stupid though. That little ruse I set up is only gonna last one night, she's gonna come look'n for us and she's gonna be livid."
"Yeah." Seven replied standing up, "Lets just get this job done and go home."
Reiko looked out into the city only to see a slight flash of light from the top of a far off building, "They're on their way…just passed checkpoint number one." He said with a sigh, "Let's get this over with quickly."
With that they two quickly vanished into the shadows, their days of planning were about to be put to the test…and hopefully, hearing the news that one of his Generals were dead would let Andrew know that his time was drawing to an immediate end…
******
Zig's Bar……
Three days later……
******
"You heard didn't you?" The iguana asked as the white furred bounty hunter sat there constantly carving the same nook into the counter with her index claw, "One of the Emperor's Generals died the other day." He said sliding her a newspaper.
It was a paper that the Emperor had no control over; a public, underground paper that let the masses know the news that Andrew didn't want them to know. The front page was centered with the image of the old Katinan Military HQ, where Andrew held some of his meetings. Just above the door was a red furred vixen, dead, tied to the large Venomian military symbol that had been placed above the door. It was more than a bold statement, it was a war declaration……
"Hmm…Scarlet Harris." The vixen said, "Anyone know who did it?"
"Nope…" Zig replied, "But, I think you've already got your finger pointed don't you?"
She knew it had to be then, they were assassins and had even taken out Star Fox; yet, there was something wrong about this. Andrew kept a hold on the entirety of the Lylat system, through his nine Generals, the people of every city, no matter where they were, were kept in a tight hold and barely left with enough to survive. Who the hell could have afforded to pay assassins to take out a hit on a General? The vixen puzzled over it for a time; if they attacked Star Fox, that meant they were working for Andrew…why then would they take out a hit on Andrew's men, when the Emperor could clearly pay them more money?
"Unless this isn't about money…" She said to herself, "Let's see here. Scarlet was the lowest in the chain of Commands. What if they're starting something, by taking out the Generals?"
Zig raised an eyebrow, "What?"
"I don't know their reasoning…" She said, "But, think about it. If you were going to take out the Nine, wouldn't you go for the weakest one first?" She asked.
Zig chuckled, "You're really putting some thought into this."
"Zig I already know that you know a lot more than you're willing to tell me." She said, "And since you were Fox's friend and informant of this city's underside…I'm deciding to ignore that…but, I need you to tell me the truth this time and right now."
Zig sighed and sat down pouring himself a drink, "Fine…you want the truth here it is." He said, "Yeah, the Wraiths are real. You ran into one you should know…but. You can't find their base of operations because, they don't have one. They're nomads, they move from planet to planet. Recently they were here on Katina…for that reason right there in front of you." He said tapping the paper, "I'm not sure if they're still around, but, they usually do leave behind a man or two for a few days for a follow up of some kind."
"So……I should be able to find one of them here in the city?"
Zig chuckled, "I think if you tried hard enough you could find at least one Wraith in every city in Lylat. I guess you could say they live in the shadows, they're assassins after all. Why do you want them so badly anyhow?"
"They were the ones that killed Fox." She said lowering her head.
Zig thought for a moment, "I doubt that." He said.
"I don't!!!" The vixen shouted, "I watched one of them shoot Slippy! He would have shot me too…if Slippy hadn't pushed me through that window." She said quieting her voice, "I just want the ones responsible for killing my friends. This is two families I've lost…"
Zig patted her shoulder, "Listen…" He said, "…if you're gonna search start with the Embassy. The Wraiths have a thing against Andrew and his men. They're probably keeping dibs on that place since he turned it into a munitions compound. From what I hear Powalski likes to hang out around that place." He said, "If anything else, you know you could always go after the Generals yourself…bound to run into a Wraith or two on that line."
Kursed chuckled, "Yeah. I wouldn't mind shoving this up that ape's ass…" She said patting the scythe on her back, "…but, the last thing I need is Andrew and his men breathing down my neck." She said, "So you gonna tell me any more about these Wraiths?"
"Sorry chick." He replied, "Last thing I need is a gang of assassins out for my tail."
Kursed sighed, "Fine……" She said, "Thanks anyhow."
The vixen slowly walked out of the bar into streets; she quickly stopped in place, something felt off to her. She quickly looked to the roofs only to barely see a small white object vanish over the edge of the rooftops. She squinted a bit, someone was following her; but, why couldn't she hear any thoughts? Even with the strongest willed mind she would get some sort of mental feedback. The vixen quickly made her way up to the rooftops; she'd learned better than to let these animals stay on the rooftops too long, whoever they were they'd trained Katt to be much more agile and sure footed than she'd ever been. As she finally reached the rooftop of the building nearest to her, the white furred vixen looked out over the highrise. A short ways off, on another building, stood an animal dressed much like Katt had been, thought with a long tail so heavily bandaged that she couldn't really make out what kind of animal it was. The assassin simply stood there for a moment looking in her direction; Kursed however couldn't help but to be frozen in place. This animal was only about a hundred yards away and yet she couldn't sense a single thought, or motive. The white cloaked animal stood there, not moving an inch as if inviting her to give some sort of chase……
The vixen made her way from rooftop to rooftop as easily as the assassin would have, only to suddenly stop at a massive gap across a very wide street. She looked down to the street far below, and back to the animal that stood across from her. She could tell from the animal's build, and stature that it was clearly a male; the most infuriating thing however, was that he simply kept standing there while she looked across the massive gap. It was a large gap, though one she was certain she could make at a good running start. Kursed knew that the jump however was not one any average animal would simply attempt. The white clad assassin quickly stepped back as he realized the vixen had dashed from one end of the rooftop to the other, before quickly turning about and launching herself from the ledge of the rooftop. She managed to clear the gap with enough room to spare that she attempted to tackle the animal, only to roll to one side. The vixen quickly leaped to her feet however swiping her claws at his face, an attack which the creature easily dodged, before flipping backward away from the bounty hunter's massive weapon; which scratched a deep gash into the rooftop in a powerful downward arch. However, as this happened she quickly shifted the attack swiping the scythe back in the opposite direction, causing the assassin to throw up his arm in defense. The scythe met with a metal chime, only to notice that he was wearing some sort of metal gauntlet; as she looked on two long blades projected from the armor just above his knuckles on either side of her weapon's blade, before he rolled to one side flinging it from her grasp, where the object spun through the air embedding it's long curved blade in the side of an A.C unit. Kursed instantly went to the offensive again; swiping her claws and feet at the animal's face, one swipe even gashed open his robe about his chest. The assassin however seemed to have enough, and before Kursed could even realize what had just happened, the animal's long metal claws swiped across her chest, though only close enough to tear open her suit, before another weapon found it's way to her throat. The assassin pressed a long combat knife against her neck forcing her to back away as he pushed forward backing the vixen into a wall….
Kursed growled angrily, he'd beaten her without even trying, at any moment he could slit her throat. She was ready, disappointed but, ready. The animal before her didn't move his knife, he simply remained in that position. She tried several times to see his face, but, the hood he wore did it's job in keeping his face hidden…
"DO IT!!" The vixen shouted suddenly.
In reaction the assassin made a swift motion with his paw down her front, she was certain he'd gutted her, however, she only felt a slight draft as her clothing fell away. Kursed quickly moved her paws to cover her exposed body, only to see the animal back away from her and turn around. At first she'd thought he might have had thoughts of ravaging her, however, she realized now that his act was not of any form of lust…rather, he was simply making certain that she would not follow him. It was as she stood there that the animal leaped to the next rooftop…
"Don't think for one second you've stopped anything!!" She shouted, "If it takes the rest of my life I'll kill every one of you!! You hear me!?!"
Kursed managed to salvage a bit of her clothing, tying what scraps she could around her to cover her move private areas, before dislodging her scythe from the air conditioning unit for the building. She looked around, hoping that she could still spot him, but, her target was long gone. She couldn't believe he'd resort to such an underhanded tactic to keep her from following him, but, she couldn't possibly follow him out into the streets in the state she was in. Instead she'd head back to her ship. While fighting the animal, she'd managed to place a tracking bug on him, she could check it out once she got back to the ship. She figured she'd be fine if she stayed to the rooftops most of the way; indecent exposure in public wasn't a charge she wanted after Andrew's influence had spread to the police departments, god only knew what kind of shit a corrupt police force would do to her. It wasn't long before she found her way to her ship, she was quick to change out of her uniform, happy that she had more than one, she loved the suit; it was specially made just for her…
The vixen sighed as she headed toward the kitchen of her ship, had she not managed to place the bug on the assassin in the middle of their fight, she would have been very upset at the moment. However as she made her way onto the bridge, and activated the tracking program for the device she simply received a static screen with a smaller, clear screen at it's center housing the words; Tracking beacon offline. There were only two distinct reasons for such a message upon running the program; it was either destroyed, or he'd turned it off, and either one meant that it had been discovered. The white furred vixen let out a growl of frustration that slowly boiled over into a rage filled scream as she turned about, driving her fist into the wall of the ship; only to recoil with a loud yelp of pain, cradling her paw. She was certain she'd broken a knuckle or two; with a hiss of pain she interlaced her fingers, pulling her curled fingers back into a normal position with a loud pop and a short yelp of pain. She couldn't believe she'd let herself get beaten so easily, it angered her to a level that she rarely knew. However, it wouldn't stop her, she'd find them again…if it took an eternity, she'd find them and make them pay for what they'd done to her life……
******
Six months later……
Kew's Fourth moon……
******
Taking up refuge in an old abandoned hanger on a Kewian moon; Reiko and his group sat and waited. They'd not heard from several members in a while, and since then he'd sent out several scouts to those assassins' most recent locations. He'd begun to worry, since a certain member of his group had decided to try scaring Kursed away, the vixen had gone on the hunt for just about anyone even remotely looking like a Wraith. The Coyote slowly sighed, and moved about the large room nervously; 12 and 14 were the most recent to come up missing and at the moment he'd sent Creed and Katt out to find them. He closed his eyes in hope when he heard the animals enter the room, only to lower his ears at the sound of only two sets of footsteps. The large, red furred vulpine walked by laying his paw in Reiko's for a moment……
"I'm sorry Reiko…" He sighed leaving a pair of metal tags in his paw, embossed with the numbers 12 and 14.
Creed slowly walked away leaving Katt standing there. The feline noticed a tear fall on the tags that the Coyote couldn't seem to stop staring at…
"Reiko?" Katt called placing a paw on his shoulder, "Hey."
The animal quickly jerked his shoulder away from the feline, only to have him tromp over to the cloaked animal that sat in a windowsill looking out at the rain, where he threw the tags to the floor…
"I hope you're fucking happy!" He shouted, "Twenty three! She'd killed twenty three of us six goddamn months!" Seven seemed to simply ignore him picking up the tags slowly and lacing them around his neck with a mess of others, "I told you not to antagonize her! Just keep an eye on her! You let her live…and LOOK WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED!!!"
As if fully ignoring him, Seven lowered his head and slowly walked by and out the door with a somber stride to his step. Katt took the moment to approach Reiko…
"That wasn't fair Reiko…" She said, "They were his family too. Just because he only talks to you, doesn't mean we don't understand him."
Creed sighed, "She's right you know? I'm pretty sure nobody feels worse about this right now than he does."
Reiko took a deep, cleansing breath before looking to the window, "Creed, Katt. Tomorrow, you two are going to Papetoon…that was the last place she was seen…" He said, "Kill her…and make sure you watch her die. I don't want any mistakes. We're the only five left in our Sect…I don't want any more deaths."