-1Chapter Seven
A Truth Unveiled
The elevator stopped, and they all stepped outside; they were in the loading dock where they had parked their Arwings when they had arrived. There were enemy ships parked everywhere, and guards off in the distance that were guarding the Arwings. They slowly began across the large, ship-covered dock, hiding behind ships, not to catch any unwanted attention.
"So, Fox," Slippy whispered as they stopped behind a deployment ship. "Where exactly are we headed for?"
"You don't know..?" Fox smiled. "The only ship that doesn't look the same as these."
"And that would be..?" Falco mumbled.
"Why, that big, red one over there." Fox pointed.
There was a large red ship in the middle of the bay with the "Star Wolf" insignia painted on the wings; it was surrounded by many other deployment ships.
"That's the one." he smiled.
They quickly ran toward it, keeping low to not catch the eyes of any possible guards.
"Keep it up, guys." Fox whispered. "We're almost there."
They kept on dashing and hiding for a few minutes, then finally stopped behind a ship that was parked in front of their destination.
"Okay, guys," Fox began. "Before we check this place, remember; don't ever let your guard down. Even if you do for just a second, it could be the difference of life or death."
The team nodded to these words. Fox alone stepped up to the ship's docking bay; the only way in through the back. He gently pulled up on the lever, and slowly tried to pull it up; it was locked. He moved around to the front of the ship, and saw a small door. He slowly pulled on the handle, and the door popped off; a rush of cool air rushing through his fingers. The door slowly started moving up, then stopped with just enough room for Fox to enter standing up. He peeked over the edge of the ship to see his comrades, motioned them to follow, then slowly headed inside with his plasma-pistol held in front of him. The pilot-room was rather small, with two big, and rather comfortable-looking, chairs taking up most of the free space. Fox saw the door behind the chairs, and slowly opened it. It was a long, grey-painted hallway, with four doors on the right and left, and a solitary door at the end of the hall. He and his team each picked a door, and pulled on their respective handles; they were all locked. Fox and Falco checked the last four; again, they were locked as well. Fox moved toward the last one at the end of the hall, and twisted the handle as quietly as he could; it opened slowly. He slowly walked down the small hall, and as it opened up, he saw that they were in the docking bay. Boxes and packages were stacked up, lining the walls, and even hanging out into the room itself. The team looked around, investigating for any unusual surroundings.
"Guys," Fox started. "I remember Leon saying that our gear was in the 'captain's quarters'…we have to find a way to get in. Peppy must be worried sick 'bout us."
The team nodded in agreement. Suddenly, the sound of a slammed door echoed throughout the room.
"Get behind something!" Falco said as quietly as he could.
The team dived behind the crates around them. The echo grew louder and louder, and then stopped. The sound of the door down the hall jingled a bit, then opened; someone was coming. Fox pressed his body against the crated to keep himself concealed as well as he could.
"But what about the data?" a voice sounded.
Fox knew that voice anywhere; it was none other than Andrew Oikonny…again.
"If we don't retrieve it within the next hour, I'm afraid we have no other choice but to pull out…" a second voice replied.
The gruff voice of none other than Wolf O'Donnell; leader of Team Star Wolf.
"But why, sir?"
"That…that plague is taking out our soldiers faster than I thought…" he paused. "He's already taken out Squad 17...all of them."
"What! They were our best men!"
"I know…" he shook his head.
Just who is this guy? And what's his motive?
"…And to make matters worse," Wolf continued. "Fox McCloud has eliminated Panther Caroso."
Andrew shook his head. "This isn't going as planned at all…"
Wolf's fist was shaking with rage. "I'll do whatever it takes to kill that damn fox!"
Wolf slammed his fist into a nearby crate, completely destroying it.
"Come, we must join Leon in our search." Andrew turned around.
"Hold up," Wolf replied. "I came in here for a reason."
He searched around for a bit, then opened up a crate.
"Ah, here she is…" he smiled, slowly lifted an object into his hands.
Fox peeked over the edge of his crate; it was purple, energy-generated plasma rifle: "The Blitz." He blinked in horror. Wolf chuckled evilly, grasping the weapon in both hands.
"This should take card of that…freak…" he turned around and followed Andrew down the hall. "And maybe getting some answers out of that damn Toad…"
The door slammed at the end of the hall; the tremor ringing through their ears. They waited for a few moments, then came out of their hiding spots.
"Well, so much for that." Falco brushed himself.
"My dad's here…" Slippy mumbled. "We have to get to him before Wolf does anything to him!"
"Yeah, but we don't even know where he is!" Fox shrugged.
"Not yet…" Krystal said.
She pulled out a small key from out of her pocket.
"Is that…" the boys trailed off.
"Yup!" she smiled. "Swiped it when he smashed that box right next to me. Hope it leads somewhere useful…"
"Way to go, Krystal!" Slippy cheered.
Krystal handed the key to Fox. He looked at it for a moment.
"Well, hopefully it will get us into something worthy." he sighed.
"Think we should search these crates?" Falco asked.
"Nah," Fox replied. "I doubt there's anything here we could use." he shrugged. "Besides, we're mercenaries-for-hire, not space pirates, remember?"
"We really need to change our logo…" Falco sighed.
They quietly left the garage, and went back to the hall. They stopped in front of the door with the words, 'Captain's Quarters,' and Fox put the key into the lock and turned it; it unlocked.
"Sweet…" he said. "It worked."
The door opened, and they all stepped inside, one-by-one. It was a small, grey-tiled room with only a twin-sized mattress and a small desk on the opposite wall; a small, dim lamp lit the room.
"Wow," Falco said. "You'd think 'ole Wolfie would live a little more…luxurious."
Fox noticed a red package sitting on the floor next to the desk; the Andross insignia labeled across it, just like the boxes at Sargasso Space Zone. Without hesitating, Fox grabbed the box and started to open it.
"I know opening someone's mail is against the law," he said. "But he hasn't shown any hospitality the last ten years…"
He lifted the flaps of the box, and saw what was inside; their gear.
"I'd say this was the best present ever," Fox smiled. "But our Arwings are pretty sweet." he laughed.
He handed everyone their own gear-which were marked by their favorite colors-, then equipped his own. Instantly, he opened his communicator.
"Peppy! Peppy!" he shouted. "This is Fox! Do you read me!"
After a moment of silence, a voice came in.
"Fox!" Peppy shouted. "Thank God, boy! I thought you might've…"
"Nah, takes more than an army of terrorists to bring me down!"
Peppy laughed. "That's m'boy! Where are the others? Are they safe? They're not hurt, are they!"
"Hey," Falco came in. "We're still alive!"
"We're safe, Peppy!" Slippy said.
"Hope we didn't worry you too much!" Krystal smiled.
A tear formed Peppy's eye. "Just glad to see that you're alright, guys!"
"We ran into bit of a problem," Falco said. "But Fox got us out like he always does!"
"Peppy," Fox looked back. "When was our last transmission?"
"About…six and a half hours ago." he answered.
"So I was out for about five hours…" Fox trailed off.
"What happened, Fox? Everyone asked.
"It's a long story," he answered. "Let's just say something opened up the prison cell I was in, and I worked my way to get you guys out. Don't worry 'bout it."
Fox examined his Blaster to check for any unusual signs, then looked back at Peppy through his communicator's screen; he was looking at him with a concerned look on his face.
"What?" Fox shrugged.
Peppy shook his head. "Anyway, while you were…out, I looked into what General Pepper knew about this weapon. He said that it had been Sector X Colony's big project the last three years. It was supposed to be ready when we were attacking the Aparoids at the Orbital Gate, but something went wrong, and was delayed. But we now know that it was Lupinole that had been involved with the missing info vital to the project's completion."
"Lupinole…" Fox said. "Wasn't that the name on that card's digital file?"
"Yes. Apparently, he was the man driving this project. But it seems he had a weakness for money, so he had sold out what he had done so far to the weapons facility on Venom. When he met with Oikonny and Powalski five days ago, they had taken him hostage, and stole the data. Apparently, Lupinole didn't include all the data in the deal, because the most important piece was missing; a special type of kinetic force that disables incoming energy, which would make it the ultimate in earth-piercing, stealth nuclear technology."
"I remember Leon saying something about that earlier…" Fox said.
"But there's one last important thing."
"Which would be…?"
"It seems that Lupinole studied penmanship while he was in college. Apparently, he was excellent at mimicking other's handwriting; a skill he used in an illegal way. In order to throw anyone off that might've discovered his plan, he used the name of his own object of jealousy and the newest member to join the Black Cobra project: Beltino Toad."
"WHAT!" the team shouted.
"Yes. Ever since Beltino was asked to help on the development of the Core Program we used to destroy the Aparoid Queen at their home planet, Lupinole had developed a strong sense of jealousy and hatred for Beltino. When he discovered that he was being transferred to Sector X to help with the Black Cobras project, he used his name so if anyone discovered this trail, and saw that Beltino's name was on it, they'd basically blame the new guy. He carefully studied his handwriting, and nailed it down to a science. So basically, Belting has been a pawn in this sick game."
"Dad…" Slippy said quietly.
Fox shook his head. "I'm…I'm so sorry, Beltino…"
Krystal and Falco said nothing.
"How did you find all of this out, Peppy?" Fox asked.
"Just found a file on Lupinole when I was searching through the files on Venom."
"Well, we can tell Pepper where the files have gone to," Falco said. "Now, we just gotta get us some hostages."
"Basically, when Venom found out that not all of the data was with Lupinole, they stormed this place and took everyone out." Peppy sighed. "So many innocent lives for a stupid piece of data…"
"The prototypes are still here," Fox said.
"Really?" Peppy replied. "How many?"
"Four. But it doesn't look like they're active."
"Let's hope not," Peppy sighed again. " 'Cause if they are, we'll have no other choice but to destroy them. The Cornerian Government, or any government for that matter, won't want to be involved with this…and we can't risk space pirates stealing them…and I'll be damned if we keep these near the Arwings."
Everyone laughed.
"Well, looks like all we have to do now is find out who sent the distress signal." Krystal said.
"Peppy," Fox started. "A few minutes ago, we heard Wolf say that Beltino was around. Could you search for him?"
"Yeah, just give me a sec…"
"Are you alright, Slippy?" Fox turned to his friend.
He looked depressed, staring down at the floor. "Guys…we-we've gotta find my dad…"
"Don't worry," Fox tried to cheer him up. "We'll get him!"
"Okay, guys," Peppy came in. "Scanners indicate that he is on Floor Eleven; the floor right above Floor One."
"But there isn't an eleventh key!" Falco shouted.
"No, no, that's the trick," Peppy replied. "You need to use a little math to get to it."
"Aw, crap." Fox sighed. Math was never Fox's strong point. He had always struggled with it growing up.
"Remember this and you won't have to do any math when you get in the elevator."
"Thank you," Fox said, feeling a little relieved. "And I'm listening…"
"Just hit the keys two, five, seven, six, eight, two, and three. That's all you have to do."
"Two, five, seven, six, eight, two, and three. Got it." Fox repeated. "And thanks."
"No problem," Peppy said. "And be careful; I don't want to be scared like that again…I almost had a heart attack!"
"Don't worry," Fox laughed. "We'll be fine."
"Worryin' a bit much, aren't ya gramps?" Falco said.
"Hey, someone needs to!" Peppy replied.
The team slowly set out of the ship, and made their way across the docking bay, and stepped into the elevator. Fox pressed the keys, then the elevator started moving up. It opened, and there was another small room with a key card reader; Fox slid the key.
"Rick Joswen." the computer voice said. "Access granted."
They walked through the small hall that appeared, and stopped at the door at the end; Peppy came in.
"Be careful, Star Wolf is in there," Peppy said.
"Right." Fox replied.
Fox firmly held his Blaster, counted to three, took a deep breath, then kicked down the door as hard as he could.
"FREEZE!" he screamed.
A
bullet was fired; Fox quickly cart wheeled to the side. His team
jumped in, all of whom were pointing their newly acquired AK's.
Star Wolf had the room surrounded.
"Well, if it isn't Fox,"
Wolf said. "Welcome."
Beltino was strapped down to a chair, obviously being interrogated.
"Slippy" he shouted.
"Dad!"
Without hesitation, Fox threw a punch at Wolf, and struck him in the face. Wolf kicked Fox in the chest, then slammed his fists into this back. Fox fell back, but kicked him in the stomach, then double-kicked him in the face. Falco punched Leon in the nose, then kicked up into his chest. Leon countered by punching Falco in his beak, then kicked him in the face. Krystal jumped and spin-kicked Andrew in the face, then slammed down into his neck. Andrew fell back while Slippy ran to untangle his father.
"I got ya, dad." he said.
"Thank you, son." Beltino replied.
Slippy struggled with the tight ropes for a minute, but finally, Beltino was set free. The battle was raging, as there seemed to be no winners. But something stopped them; a incredibly loud screech echoed throughout the room. Everyone looked in it's direction near the doorway; something was standing there.
"What the--" Fox muttered.
"I--I don't believe it!" Peppy shouted.
The monster ran into the room, holding up its massive claws, ready to slash at the closest thing; Fox.
"What the hell is that thing!" Falco shouted.
It jumped into the air, then dived at Fox, clutching his somewhat normal hand around his neck, and holding its claws to his throat. He raised them into the air, ready to kill, holding him incredibly tightly.
"NO!" his team screamed.
Fox could do nothing but watch as his life would end before him.
