Vermillion smiled at the others shocked faces.

"General Pepper? Are you insane? He's under constant guard, one of the uppermost priorities on the Cornerian Center of Defense! How you gonna do that?" asked Cormack, a scornful look glued to his face. Vermillion sighed.

"Yes yes, I know. It's quite a feat, isn't it? Far more exciting than the usual routine. You see, I figure that if Fox realized that we could take out anyone, including the General, than he might back down. But, that's a fleeting thought in the back of my mind. I man, let's face facts here; Fox isn't going to just give up. But I figure, if we take out all of Fox's allies before him, then there won't be anything left to fight us. Corneria has some sort of loyalty to Fox and his gang; he's saved their asses on more than one occasion. We can't have anyone sparking a rebellion because poor old Foxy is dead, now can we?" He paused. "No leaders. That's what we need, my friends; no leaders except for us. Pepper is a leader, a leader with influence. We can't bribe or threaten him into submission; he's too high up the ladder for that. The only option left is to take him out. Get it now?"

"Well, yeah, I mean, I get it…" stumbled Ripper. "But… but…"

"Who in hell are you gonna get to pull a stunt like that?" interrupted Garr. "He's under constant security, never comes outside. First off, how you gonna know where his location is to make the kill? Second, who's gonna be able to do that? He's gonna need more than skill to get through all of that security, let alone make the kill."

"Luck's more like it." spat Decklin.

"Now gentlemen, settle down here. I've got the perfect candidate for this daring mission." Vermillion said somewhat sarcastically. He gave a long pause. "I'm sure you all remember who carried out our last murder on that whiny CPF chief who threatened to turn all of us in to the authorities about two years ago." He smiled from ear to ear, waiting for a response. Suddenly, after a long period of silence, Decklin sighed, sitting back in his seat.

"Surely you don't mean Jackal?"

Vermillion laughed. "Oh yes. I mean Jackal."


Fox sat back in the seat of the taxi cab, taking a moment to relax. Falco sat across from him. He turned to Fox.

"So… um, how's the bride to be?" he asked. Fox gave no reply for awhile, but then turned his head to face Falco. He gave a brief smile, which was uncommon for him nowadays.

"She's fine." He stated simply. He quickly changed the subject, and asked Falco a different question. "What hotel are Slippy and Krystal staying at again?"

Falco shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know… Actually wait… oh yeah, that's right. They're staying at the Livingston Reich hotel downtown."

"Oh man, the Reich? That's a really nice hotel! How'd they get that?"

"Well, the Cornerian military is not exactly going to put Team Star Fox in a dinky motel at the southeast ghetto, now are they?"

"Well, no… although we'd probably capture more crooks if we were."

Falco laughed. "What? More like get shot by more crooks!"

Fox sighed. "Yeah." His face became a picture of sorrow. "You know, this used to be a nice city, and looked at what it's turned into." He shook his head, laughing remorsefully. "A spawning ground for thugs, drug dealers, and gangs."

Falco bit his lip. "Yeah… I know what you mean. I remember what the old Corneria was like before it turned into… well, this." He gesticulated with his arms at the city surrounding them. "We all remember."

"Yeah…" Fox hesitated to say anything more. They were almost there.

The taxi driver rounded the corner, and the tall figure of the Livingston Reich rose above them four stories high. Fox unfastened his seatbelt.

"We're here." He tapped the driver on the shoulder. "How much do we owe ya?"

"Fourteen dollars." The driver held out his hand.

Fox reached into his pocket, and pulled out his wallet, taking out fourteen dollars even and handed it to the driver. He took the money, folding it up and putting it into his pocket. "Thank you."

"No problem." Fox opened up the door, and got out of the car. Falco followed him, and they walked up the concrete stairs as the taxi drove off behind them.

They opened the glass door of the hotel, and a glorious scene opened up before them. A crystal chandelier hung over the posh lobby, covered in marble tiles. Three bright red sofas stood in the middle of the room. A large bar stood at the left of the check in counter the shelf consisting entirely of granite. Four sat at this bar, each one of them holding a fancy alcoholic beverage and wearing dark black suits. They were laughing hysterically.

Fox rolled his eyes. "Drunks." He walked over to the check in desk, with Falco at his side. He called out, "Um, hello? Anyone here?"

He did not have to wait for long. A female receptionist came from the room behind the office, and smiled. "Hello. How can I help you?"

Fox was not at all moved by her beauty, but Falco's eyes widened slightly, finding himself staring at her. Fox placed his hand onto the counter, leaning casually.

"Um, yes. Do you have two current hotel guests in your records named Krystal and Slippy Toad?"

"Um, let me check." She sat down at the seat next to the computer. Typing on the keyboard, she moved her hand to the mouse, making a few clicks before nodding her head.

"Yep, those two checked into here this morning."

"We would like to check into here as well, then." Fox handed her his credit card. "Two nights." He slid it on the counter over to her.

"Good. What are your names?"

Fox pointed to himself. "I am Fox Mccloud, and this is Falco Lombardi." He paused. She typed in both names into her records, and swiped the card.

"Okay. I'll schedule you in for two nights, room 304. Enjoy your stay." She handed him back the card. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He stuck the card back into his wallet, he rose his finger up in remembrance. "Whoops, I almost forgot to ask, could you tell us what rooms Krystal and Slippy are in?"

"Oh yes, sure." She went back onto the computer. She smiled. "Here we are, Room 216."

Fox smiled back. "Okay, thank you!" He walked over and tapped Falco on the shoulder. "Come on, let's go."

Falco did not immediately comply, but still stared at the lady behind the counter. He shook his head lightly, seeming to come out of a trance. "Oh, okay." He said, seeming in a daze. "Bye."

"Bye." She smiled nervously, knowing that Falco had been looking at her. He tried to hide his embarrassment and walked away quickly, catching up with Fox who was already a quarter way down the hall.

Fox noticed Falco's hesitation, and rolled his head in his direction. "Were you ckecking her out?"

Falco's throat went a little dry at his question, but he pretended to be innocent. "What? Who are you talking about?"

"Don't pretend you don't know. You were totally staring at that receptionist."

"What? I was not!" Falco's voice rose in pitch slightly as he said this. Fox smiled, and gave him a playful shove.

"Oh yeah you were! You didn't take your eyes off of her for even two seconds, you little player!"

"Oh shut up!" Falco shouted back. "I'm sure you were exactly the same way with Krystal when you first saw her!"

"What? No I wasn't!" This time, it was Fox's turn to be on the defensive. Falco shoved him back. "Oh yes you were! Don't lie!"

"I'm not lying! I wasn't like that!" Fox's voice became more and more shrill as he progressed. Falco put his hands in the air.

"Hey man, if you say so." He laughed.

Fox and Falco reached the elevator. Fox pressed the second floor button, and walked inside. He noticed Falco was not coming with him into the elevator. He looked confused.

"Aren't you coming?"

"Dude, our room is on the third floor, not second." Falco said to him. Fox smiled.

"Have you forgotten that Krystal and Slippy are on the second floor, and that we were going to pay them a visit?" Fox replied. Falco gave a stupid grin, and slowly walked inside the elevator.

"Oh yeah. I forgot."

Fox punched him lightly on the shoulder. "You would forget something like that."

"Yes. Yes I would."

The elevator brought them to the second floor, and they got out. Falco nudged Fox's shoulder with his hand.

"Which room is it again?"

Fox didn't even turn back to look at Falco. "Room 216. Weren't you listening when she said that? Or were you to busy staring at her to hear?"

"Shut up!" Falco blushed slightly. Fox smirked. He pointed to the one three doors up. "There they are, Room 216."

"Let's hope that they're there."

Fox knocked on the door three times, and waited. He heard a high pitched voice on the other side of the door.

"Hello? Who is it?"

It was Slippy. Fox answered back, "It's Fox and Falco. We've returned from the mission."

"Fox?"

Slippy opened the door, a smile on his face. "Hey Krystal! It's Fox and Falco! They're here!" He was beaming. "How'd everything go in the mission? Did you catch the guy?"

"Well, yeah… We'll get to that in a sec." Fox moved into the room, followed by Falco. "Where's Krystal? I need to tell everybody something."

"I'm right here, silly."

Fox turned his head, seeing her to his right, standing next to the sofa in the huge suite. He smiled.

"Well, aren't you all handsome in that little suit of yours!"

"Hey, Krystal! How have you been?"

She walked up to him. "I've been alright. Besides being worried sick. What happened? Did everything go alright?"

"Well, yeah, sorta…" Fox walked up to her, meeting with her in the center of the room. "I uh… kind of got into a sticky situation during the arrest…"

"What? Oh no! What happened?" she asked worriedly "Did anything go wrong?"

"Well, yes, actually, everything that could have possibly gone wrong did go wrong. One of my fellow agents tried to kill me."

Krystal gasped. "Oh, you poor thing! What happened to the agent? Did he get arrested as well?"

"Um… no, Krystal." He began. "You see, well… I had to kill him." He stopped, not knowing how she would react. "He was attacking me and all, and shooting, so… well, yeah…" He waited for her to respond, not knowing how she would react.

"Fox," she put her hands on his shoulders, relieving all of his worry. "I understand. We've had to kill in the past, and if you were under fire, and he was trying to kill you, what else could you have done?"

Fox swallowed. He had thought that maybe she would have taken it badly that he had killed someone, but she understood the situation he had been in, and accepted it. He smiled at her.

"Yeah. I guess you're right."

Krystal smiled back. "Anyway, what you just said about that agent… it scares me, Fox. Who could be possibly out for your life?"

"I don't know." He turned to Falco and Slippy, who had went to the other side of the room, sitting on one of the sofas and chatting amiably. "But all I know is that whoever is out to get me, is out to get us all. And no agent would just randomly try to kill me without a reason of some sort. I have a feeling he was put up to it."

"Well, these are some pretty uncertain times ahead of us. I'm just glad that you're okay." Krystal said, leaning forward and kissing Fox on the cheek. "It is scary though, when you think about it. Who could have gotten to that agent to make him try to kill you? You're right; it sounds like someone is out for your blood."

"I gotta tell Slippy, too." Fox kissed her back on the cheek. "He needs to know about everything. In fact, I want to talk about it with the entire team, since I obviously can't tell anyone from the CPF."


Authors Note: Chapter 4 coming up soon! And by the way… any of y'all see that little green button below? Push it! :D