Back again. Enjoy this next chapter. It'll be less exciting as the last but good non- the less.

Chapter 4: The Newbie

Will stood outside a tent, staring at the beautiful clear sky above. Will Fox allow her to join? Of course he will. Why am I getting so worked up about this, I just feel……

"Will common, Kara just stopped in front of a water refinery." Fox interrupted Wills thoughts.

"I thought Kew 's water purity problems were finished?" Will wondered. Kew's water supply years ago were contaminated, he knew about this from his no life childhood when he was a real big fan of the STAR FOX series, but the problem was solved with Corneria funding for a purification project here on Kew .

"Yeah, but there are small ground water pockets that still need purification, so they keep the facilities there just in case. Grab your bike, we're heading there now." Fox, Krystal, Falco, and Slippy got in Foxes car, leaving Will to the bike he stole. As Will started the bike, he realized he had no weapons with him. He drove the bike next to the driver side of Foxes car and told Fox he would meet him at the location. As Will drove off, Krystal told him to get there on time. With a thumbs up, Will revved the bike and took off. Five minutes later he arrived at his Arwing where he popped open one of the four cargo hatches and pulled out his rifle, he slung it on his back, hopped on the bike and took off once more, heading north east to the rendezvous point.

-

Fox stopped two blocks away from water refinery. Everyone hopped out and loaded up on weapons he stored in the trunk. Fox felt like Will was up to something. They ran to a spot not to far away from the entrance to the refinery, about twenty feet. Krystal took out binoculars and tried to observe the meet in the open part of the refinery, near the middle.

"What do you see?" Fox asked.

"I don't see her but I can sense her, she's thinking about how she's going to go about killing one of the dealers. She must be up high, or down low to make it so they don't know where she is."

"She is clever, you didn't tell us that Fox." Falco joked.

"Alright, move up and find a hiding spot." The three of them dispersed, Slippy staying in the car, and found good spots to take cover. All the dealers ran in circles, one standing in one spot, fell to the ground with his head collapsed inward. "I she Kara, left back building. GO!" Fox, Krystal, and Falco ran into the middle and through a small ally way to the back of the building, a tall wall stand to the left. He saw Kara running up a fire escape, she was moving extremely fast. "Kara, WAIT!" Fox yelled, trying to get her to stop.

"Wait. What's that?" Krystal stated, a low hum getting louder and louder. It turned into the definite sound of a hover bike.

-

Will was going top speed; Krystal left her COM on and will never ended the channel. He heard Fox yelling and giving orders over the link. He was about fifty feet away from the back of the water refinery complex when he spotted a silver vixen head coming over a stair case to the left. Will jumped into the side walk and up the stairs. Will was aiming slightly left to the fire escape stairs and as his bike left the stair case, stood up and jumped off the bike, tackling Kara through a window. They rolled, Will crouched and un-slung his rifle. As he brought it to bear at, he noticed he was beat, Karas pistol already aimed at his head.

"Miss me, Kara." Will said with a smile.

"How do you know my name, WHO ARE YOU WORKING FOR?" Kara yelled, she wanted answers that Will would probably not give.

"I work for STAR FOX, I'm hear to help you."

"No one's been able to help me for over six years, what makes you…" Will pounced, round house kicking the pistol from her hand and coming in from behind her with his rifle aimed at the back of her head. "You're fast." Will grinned at the remark and heard foot steps coming up from the fire escape.

"Kara!" Came Foxes voice.

"Will, are you ok?" Came Krystal's voice.

"Oh great. Is that really Fox McCloud?" Kara asked, sounding very worried.

"Yeah wh…" Kara tried to round house kick Will, but was blocked by Wills forearm and Will turned her and wrapped one arm around her neck.

"LET ME GO! I can't let Fox see me!" She yelled.

"Your not going anywhere, sorry for the inconvenience, please file all complaints at the receptionists desk." Fox and Krystal appeared at the broken window

"Are you two ok?" Krystal asked.

"NO!" Kara yelled, trying to connect her elbow with Wills chest or side.

"Not today, sorry." Will tried to knock her out by compressing her neck, but she continued to resist.

"Fine, fine… you have me." Kara gave up, she was panting.

"That was a bit to easy." Will mocked under his breath, releasing her as she sat down on the ground, holding her shoulder. Must have hit her harder then I thought. Will walked to the door so she couldn't escape; knowing Falco had the stairs covered. Kara turned to Fox.

"Kara?" Fox said, almost unknowing that he had been chasing her the entire time.

"Fox?" Kara got up and ran to him. They embraced, a tear running down Foxes furry cheek. "It's been so long." She started to tear, Will knew it was forced, maybe a tack in her boots or a mouth dart or something.

"What have you done to change into this?" Fox asked, his tears kept coming.

"Into what?" Kara denied, again, Will knew it was forced.

"You burnt down an apartment building and shot a civilian. Your not who you used to be."

"Everyone changes after time, you sure have. What are you a mercenary?"

"You can say that. What are you? What is your excuse to kill innocent people?"

"I don't kill innocent people; I'm killing the scum of the galaxy. You can say I'm a bounty hunter."

"A bounty hunter?" Will said unconvinced. "You almost killed people in that fire."

"It was my mission specs, jeez. What are you, a newbie to the team?" Kara sounded annoying.

"Considering what just happened, you can say I'm a newbie by the time not skill." Will chuckled slightly.

"Yeah, I guess so." Will thought she was starting to like him. "So what's going on with you, you look great since… since the incident at the academy." She was stuttering, obviously not wanting to bring up the subject. Just then Falco appeared at the window.

"Oh crap. You're kidding me." Falco did not like this sight.

"Nice to see you too, Falco." Kara said sarcastically. "Where's little man?" Kara said. Will thought she must be talking about Slippy, him being the shortest.

"Out in the car. He was going to give us Intel but his COM system went dead." Fox frowned.

"What would we need Intel for, I was driving here and you were watching a illegal weapons deal go down." Will said.

"Good point."

Static came over Foxes COM. "F..x…. do you read." The static started to clear.

"Fox here, go ahead."

"We have a lot of company on the way. That friend of yours has a lot of people after her." Slippy said worryingly. "Get out of there."

"I'm out." Will and Falco said in unison. Falco ran down the stairs. Will jumped and landed a foot on the window sill, jumped off and put a foot on the rail, and made one last jump over the far wall.

"That new guy is talented." Kara said with a smile. A loud roar came from over the wall, and they all saw Will drive off down the road.

"See you guys back at the Great Fox." Will came over the COM.

"So…" Fox started to say, "Do you uhhh, have a… place to stay." Krystal hopped out the window and snorted. "Jealous." Fox said with a laugh.

"Not that conversation again." Krystal also laughing.

"What did I miss?" Kara asked.

"It's an inside joke." Krystal told her.

"It is true." Fox said and jumped out the window.

"And like I was about to say before, no I don't have a place to stay. Thank you." Kara knew something was going to happen on the way to her ship. She jumped out the window and hurried to catch up with Fox.

-

Will stopped outside of the hospital. As he walked through the entrance, he saw Alana leaning on the receptionist counter. Will snuck up on her and she jumped. They both laughed.

"How are you feeling?" Will asked her.

"I feel great. This is the best I've ever felt." She stretched. "I'm a bit tired though."

"You wanted in on this, you can sleep on the Great Fox." Will said. He motioned her to follow and walked out to his bike.

"Is that yours? It's nice." Alana grinned.

"Thanks, you can say I… barrowed it." Will said, thinking that Alana would think badly of him.

"You stole it didn't you."

"Yeah, yes I did."

"Well, you did what you had to do, that car I crashed in wasn't mine either." She shrugged.

"Your kidding."

"No I'm not. I never lie." Will believed Alana. "Lets go." She hopped on the back of the bike and they drove off.

"You have a ship?" Will asked.

"Yeah," Alana answered. "South space port. Head there." Will activated his headset and marked it on the map.

-

They arrived at the space port shortly after.

"Hop in your ship and get I the air, I'll get my ship." Will told Alana. She nodded and got off the bike. Will drove off. He headed east to where he left his Arwing. He stopped and parked the bike in the exact spot where he took it from. I hope they didn't miss this thing, I know I will. He jumped into the Arwing and toke off to meet up with Alana.

"Nice ship. You have a lot of nice stuff." Alana said

"It's all Fox; he got most of this stuff. He is a nice guy."

"I bet he is. I'm going to have to meet him."

"You will. Patience. Follow me." They both flew out of the atmosphere and into the Great Fox. "Welcome to our home." Ill said, sliding out of the pilots seat of his Arwing.

"Umm." Alana looked around. Will followed her gaze, maw agape. There were laser scorches everywhere. "What happened here?"

"I don't know." Will took off his rifle and made sure it work fine. "I plan to find out. Come on. We need to find the others." Will opened one of the storage hatches and past one of his pistols to Alana. "Consider that a gift."

Will took point and walked, weapon at the ready, to the destroyed hanger door. He touched one of the jagged edges and found it was still warm. They kept pressing forward. Making sure no one was in ear shot. "You go left, I'll head straight. I'll check the Holoroom, you check the mess hall." They split up. Will held his rifle level. I'll stop by my room and get my other weapons. Will rounded a corner to get on the elevator to find five fully suited military fighters staring at him. They all aimed at him, something was wrong with the weapons. Their weapons…… are M4s. How the… And the armor… It's dessert camo. One of the stances was familiar to Will. He held up his right hand and extended his finger, He then put the ring finger down. Three of the obviously recognizable marines did the same and started to lower their weapons. Will took a good look and found the three to be vulpines and the others were a brown vixen and 2 raccoons. The vixen dropped her weapon and walked in front of the others.

"Billy?" She said. Will recognize the voice and the way she said his nickname. He had found her after five years of being in the marines.

"Rhiannon?" The two embraced. I have finally found my sister. Will felt extremely happy. He looked at the others as they slung their weapons and walked over. Will let go of Rhiannon and walked to meet them. "Is it true? You guys survived the fight?"

"Yes sir." Rocs very recognizable voice said loud, his brown fur on his head was shaved. "What happen to you sir?" He asked.

"Don't use that 'sir yes sir' crap anymore, I'm not a sergeant anymore, neither are any of you human anymore, like me." Will opened his arms. The others then jumped and hugged him. "It's so good to see you guys again! How'd you win that fight back in Afghanistan ?" Will asked.

"We… Didn't exactly win the fight." Rob said softly. He had short tan hair,

"We met up with your sister at the base and all hell went loose." Steve jumped in, his jaw didn't have a scratch on it, neither did Rocs and Rob's legs. "We lost the commander and most of everyone else. I think we were the only ones to make it out ok, we saw others getting run down as they ran."

"OK. What happened here?"

"A welcome party." One of the raccoons said his voice shaky. "We opened up before they did."

"Why did you do that, they aren't going to do anything to you." Will scolded. "We need to find them. Where are they?"

"Held up in that big empty room, maybe thinking it would help them." Rob said. Will walked to the door of the holoroom and opened it, in lay a giant dome. The door was barricaded and Krystal held a sniper in the small slit on the top curve of the dome. A shot rang out and landed at Wills feet.

"Cease fire!" Will yelled out linking up with her COM. "I repeat cease fire! It's Will. How you guys holding up?" Will walked in with the others close behind.

"LOOK OUT!" Krystal yelled over the COM. Another shot rang out and hit one of the raccoons. The others crouched and opened up on the dome.

"CEASE FIRE!" Will yelled over the COM and to everyone around him, holding up his hands desperately. He started to wave his hands and everyone stopped. "Everyone stop this. I'm glad to see you guys alive but opening up on someone who owns this ship, really." Will scolded his former squad. "But it was the tactical thing to do, and I'm proud. Better then to die fighting then to die helpless." Will congratulate them. Will walked the rest of the way to the dome. He saw Krystal disappear from the slit. The barricade vanished from the door and it opened. "Alana. Everyone's ok and I'm coming to find you." Fox and Falco walked out from the door.

"Who you talking to?" Fox asked.

"Alana, the woman I saved from the car. I and she were… hoping that she could uhhh…" Will stuttered.

"Join the team?" Kara walked out of the door.

"Yeah. That's it." He turned slightly and saw Steve and Rob staring at the silver vixen, eyes wide. He could have sworn that Kara starred at them too.

"I don't know. We're tight on space, and we don't have funding for another Arwing. I'll see what I can do." Will heard suspicion in Foxes voice. "What did you have in mind?"

"I thought that… maybe she could be a permanent part of the team. She's a good pilot."

"We'll see what happens."

Will nodded his head and walked to his former squad. "You guys haven't changed at all. How did you guys get here? There's no way you all just popped up here."

"That is exactly what happened." Steve answered matter-of-factly. "We were on our way to meet up with the near by base and something opened up around us and we were here. It was weird. We were in this…… long steel hallway that lead nowhere, we did find a door though."

"That is what happened to me when I got here, but Fox was here to greet me… kind of."

"Wait… Fox." Roc interrupted. "The Fox McCloud from the old games?"

"Yeah. Weird huh. I thought the same thing when I got here." Will answered back. "So. What do you guys think? Not exactly what you would expect from anything normal, huh. I actually like it. It's just something interesting in life. What do you guys think you're going to do?"

They all looked at each other, mouth's agape that Will didn't say 'hey lets all go home'. "We don't know." Rhiannon said. "We can't go back home. What can we do?"

An idea popped into Wills brain right then. "You guys like the military, right." They all nodded.

- 2 days later -

Will waved. He was tearing at the fact he had just put his friends and family in the Corneria military force. As they waved back, walking towards the door of the recruitment facility, Will looked away. Rhiannon looked away, too. They both couldn't bear looking at each other. Please don't cry. Will thought, trying to just walk away and end it. He realized that those sad separations in the movies were really as sad as he thought. Fox walked up from behind him and put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a reassuring shake. He then walked to the shuttle that they took down to the planet. A city was in the distance behind the shuttle. He saw Krystal punching away at buttons in the pilots seat. Fox walked half way up the ramp in the back and waved Will in. He took one last look at his friends and sister. They all stopped outside the door and turned. They all stood straight and snapped crisp salutes. Will, overwhelmed, hesitated and snapped into attention. With the best salute he could muster, he yelled, "Attention!" Their arms went behind their backs and their legs spread a little. "About face!" They all turned. "Forward March!" They all shuffled through the door, Will couldn't stand it and ran for the shuttle before he cried. Alana was standing in the opening. She walked to him and hugged him. The shuttle took off and Will took one glimpse towards the small building in the giant planes of Corneria. His eyes watered.