"Falco Lombardi, you are a marked dead man."

Falco jolted awake to find he laying on the ground. He placed a hand over his heavily beating heart as he tried to shake the nightmarish voice he'd heard within his dream. His emerald orbs focused as they held fear within them, before he realized he was beside his Arwing. A sigh escaped him as he picked himself up, "This has to end sometime."

His emerald orbs looked around at the ThornTails as they were all waking from their slumbers. A few fires still burned as the ThornTails of those fires still slept the early morning away. He gave a soft chuckle as he wished he was back on the GreatFox, sleeping away with Foxy. But he paused at that thought as he knew how it'd actually go; she'd be up watching him sleep then start giggling, which would soon break out into a regular loud laugh, because he'd start snoring. That's how most mornings were; at least that's how they used to be.

Several hours later, Falco watched as the ThornTails went off to find food and stretch their legs. Though, for most it was to prove to themselves that they were safe outside the make-shift camp built for them. The ace-pilot stayed by his Arwing, letting them wonder around. Soon enough, he decided to climb inside the Arwing-giving him a little more of a view for the area around the make-shift camp. But it didn't give him an excellent view of the back side of the camp, where six fleet ships landed with stealth.

A pair of baby ThornTails played by a shallow pool of water, giggling erupted from them as they didn't see a problem with the world as their parents did. The water felt cool and inviting to them as they never noticed the large figures coming towards them. As one of them dove under the water, they quickly noticed that the little light still provided by the sun had been blocked out. When the babies surfaced they looked up to be face-to-face with the red eyes of the feared species of the RedEyes. Their screams were the only thing that alerted to the wave of chaos that was to follow, before they met their untimely end.

The other ThornTails turned to see the RedEyes, LongJaws, and the SharpClaw beings come into focus. They had let their guard down as the carnivorous species came towards them. All of the ThornTails looked to each other before trying to back track back towards the make-shift camp.

The RedEyes saw it as a feeding frenzy. The LongJaws saw it as a riot. The SharpClaws saw it as a game. All three species gave chase, leaving the one RedEye to finish off the two baby ThornTails in the shallow water. The ThornTails older and much wiser couldn't do anything to save them, but now it was a matter of saving themselves and those still alive.

The LongJaws took towards the center of the group, as a way to cause trouble for those in the middle of the herd; mostly the younger, more tender ThornTails. While the RedEyes took the outer edges of the herd, running the ThornTails down to the ground as they mass-murdered any, and all, they could catch. The SharpClaws took to running within the herd as a way to push the ThornTails towards the edge or center most point of the stampeding herd of ThornTails.

While her babies were at play, the Mistress rode a top one of her younger RedEyes. She watched with amusement glinting within her golden slit eyes. It was a warming site to see the innocent paying the price for a murder that should never have happened. She knew of General Scales' death and how Falco had been part of that, but now she was more concerned with Falco in the death of Gravier, the RedEye, she had loved. The young RedEye gave a loud growl as she looked to him, "Alright young one. Let's go get him."

The RedEye gave a chilling roar as it picked up the pace, reaching its max speed. The Mistress rode a top with a look of wicked pleasure on her lips.

"Falco? Falco, what's happening?! Answer me!"

Falco heard the transmission as he ran towards the fleeing ThornTails in an effort to try and help them. Though, as he rounded the plain view of the running ThornTails, he realized in horror whom was back. While his orbs remained on them, he never noticed the massive young RedEye coming up behind him; nor did he notice the female that walked towards him.

Falco shook his head as he started to move towards the ThornTails that were still alive and had hidden within the cracks of the rock-facing. The only place the RedEyes and LongJaws couldn't get too. The SharpClaws were then sent in, ending the few surviving ThornTails then. Falco pressed his beak firmly together as he made a running start towards them.

"Where do you think you're going?! You murderer!"

The male falcon turned to ask the classic "what" response when a smashing fist to the throat and back of the head was his down fall.

He hit the ground hard as a gasp of pain was heard exiting his body. Before his eyes closed the last thought he had escaped him, "Foxy…"

The Mistress flicked her ears, having heard the name, "Foxy? What the hell kind of name is Foxy?"

She laughed as she snapped her raptor claws, causing the young RedEye to grab a hold of Falco. The Mistress gave a wicked grin as she jumped on the young one's back, then signaling to head back to the fleet's ships. The young RedEye nodded its head as it sent Falco into a series of flips and shakes just as a ragdoll would for a child. The delight of having Falco, the one that had murdered her lover and the one that could have given her all power over Sauria, within her grasp was almost too much for the Mistress as she had to suppress a squeal of delight.

As she rode on the back of the young RedEye, she cast her gaze towards the sky. She could only guess that the girl named Foxy was indeed Falco's lover. If she played her cards right she had a little gift for Foxy, but for now she planned on playing with her little prize for now. Her golden slit eyes looked down to the motionless figure, that was Falco, as all these wonderfully, horrid ideas kept running through her mind. Her biggest problem was, she didn't know which one to perform first and that upset her greatly.

When they arrived back at the fleet of ships, the RedEyes, LongJaws, and SharpClaws were herded up and placed back within their ships. All of them being full and happy were easy to handle unlike when they'd first arrived. As the Mistress stepped down from her mount, three pairs of CloudRunners appeared. She turned towards them as she snapped her fingers for the RedEye to drop Falco. In which a loud thud was heard, followed by a moaning of pain from his unconscious body.

The CloudRunners nodded as they were quick to retrieve him and take him within the Mistress' personal ship. The Mistress looked back to her RedEye as she petted him on the leg, before she parted ways with him. The RedEye soon nodded before leaving back towards its own personal ship.

As the Mistress walked down the corridors of the main-control ship, she could hear the constant little whispers from the other CloudRunners. They were all impressed that she'd managed to capture the ace-pilot of the StarFox team. Though, as she neared her chambers she found the three pairs of CloudRunners awaiting her arrival. One of them stepped up as they addressed, "Your Mistress, he has been seen to, and dealt with as you desired."

A grin became more apparent on her face as she nodded. A hiss-like growl was heard then, "Good, very good. Now, leave me be with him!"

The six CloudRunners took off as to escape her wrath; she showed no interest in taking off after them. Her interest was more held with the one inside her personal chambers. She stepped towards the automatic doors as it opened up and revealed several more doors; a wicked grin appeared as she turned towards the left. The door opened to reveal a laboratory of sorts, and there in the center was a steel tabled with the murderer strapped down tight to it.

She walked over to him as she placed a rough, scaled hand on his cheek. His feathers felt soft to her rather rough skin. A blink of surprise came as she took notice that he didn't seem like a killer at all. Still when she thought of Gravier and General Scales, that hatred for him came back stronger and stronger than before. She removed her hand from his cheek as she flexed her hand before striking out at Falco. When she turned from him, on his cheek were four large, five inch deep gashes. She'd made her mark and planned on delivering the rest of the damage when he was just conscious enough to feel the pain. This, to her delight, would only take a few more hours before he would reach that state. Then the real fun would begin, at least for her.

"Welcome to your new home Falco Lombardi."

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Disclaimer:
I do not own Star Fox or any of the characters found within the game series.
They respectively belong to their original creators and designers.

Uh-oh! Falco definitely has gotten himself into some serious trouble now. Seems the Mistress has him exactly where she wants him. Hopefully something turns the tides for Falco before it could all come to an end for him. We'll just have to wait and see.

Please read and review!
I want to know that someone at least likes this story.
Foxy McCoy belongs to Jackswerewolf

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