Chapter 7 | Reclaim

Being the Hero of Lylat came with a few distinct advantages. It was pretty easy to make dinner reservations at the last minute. Just about everybody on the street wanted his autograph. Buying supplies for the Great Fox usually came with a pretty hefty discount. All things considered, it was a useful card to play when the time presented itself. One place his status did not help him, unfortunately, was in the security checks for Cas' office. After the countless times he'd put his neck on the line for the Cornerian military over the years, Fox had hoped that his screening process would've grown slightly more relaxed. This was not the case. Even with the General himself authorizing his clearance, he'd still been through more metal detectors and pat-downs since he walked in than he could count. Currently, he was in middle of another round of searches, rolling his eyes as a thick pair of gloved hands rustled the insides of his calves.

As cautious as they were with him, Krystal hadn't even been able to accompany him further than the main lobby, lacking any real documentation or ID. Once they were indoors, she'd finally stepped out from under his coat, peering up at him with a bright blush burning on her face, and an uncharacteristically meek smile on her lips that still managed to stop his heart. Fox had shaken his head to clear it when he caught himself staring, chalking the blood rushing to the vixen's throat as her simply being cold. It couldn't be anything more than that, right? In either case, she'd assured him that she would be fine waiting on her own for a while, giving him a warm look before striding over and taking a seat on a nearby couch. Krystal had shooed him away with one hand after a moment, laughing when she caught him memorizing the details of her mesmerizing figure swaying across the room.

Even though his vetting process ended up taking nearly half an hour, it seemed to fly by faster than that, mostly because his thoughts kept drifting back to that stunning, brave blue fox. So much had developed between the two of them over the past month, even just the past few hours. He needed some time alone to parse their interaction at the Matchstick, and try to feel out exactly where the two of them stood now. A particularly unsympathetic guard grunted as he dished out yet another rough body search, checking his pockets for a concealed weapon that didn't exist. It didn't bother the tod. He was lost in his own world, occupied solely by himself and Krystal. His reverie was soon interrupted by the guard's gruff voice, however.

"You're free t' go," the officer muttered, vaguely motioning towards the far end of the checkpoint he'd been trapped in for so long. The vulpine let out a sigh as he pushed off the wall, feeling the cords in his arms and back pull taut as he stretched himself out. He turned to thank the guard, but he was already buried back in his terminal, no doubt typing up another clean bill for his personal file. Fox shrugged, taking the hint and instead stepping through the door. A nostalgic smile broke out across his mouth when he did, a burst of cool air running over his fur, instantly washing away the stuffy atmosphere he'd just emerged from. In front of him was the sprawling expanse that he'd grown so accustomed to in the early years of the war. He craned his head back, losing himself momentarily in the endlessness of the Cornerian Heart.

The structure around him was a jigsaw puzzle of tapering steel beams, wide sheets of sleek glass, and smooth blocks of sterile concrete, sculpted into a perfect cylinder that extended for miles and miles above the planet's surface. The last glimmering rays of orange and purple twilight pierced through the clouds, casting long shadows behind the abundant flowers and trees planted indoors. Even in the late hours, the command center was still as hectic as ever, with groups of coworkers in sharp military garb poring over documents and important looking strategists walking into and out of the elevators. Fox watched as one pair of doors closed, rumbling in place before shooting upwards at a breakneck pace and quickly disappearing out of view. He'd need to catch one of those elevators. Unfortunately he needed a special lift, one dedicated to Cas and the people he worked closest with. Fox groaned a little. He'd have to talk to the receptionist in order to call it.

The tod strode over towards the center of the space, where a busy-looking ocelot typed furiously at his keyboard and scribbled notes on the holoscreen atop his desk. A few people frowned at him in his peripheral vision, shooting dirty looks when they thought he wasn't watching. Fox did his best to ignore them. Even if the public generally loved Star Fox and all the good they'd done for Lylat, most of the military still looked down on mercenaries as flaky, unreliable hired guns who swung between sides at the drop of a hat. It didn't help that he'd been part of the military originally, before restarting the team. A lot of people saw him as a traitor for leaving. And, given the way the receptionist wrinkled his nose when he saw the vulpine approaching, Fox didn't have high hopes for this feline being much different.

"Good evening… sir," the ocelot said, the last word rolling off his tongue with just enough acid to make the vulpine wince. "Welcome to the Heart. I'm sure there's something you'd like my help with, yes? Maybe just looking for the bathroom?" Fox bit back a sigh.

"I'm here to see General Black," the tod responded flatly. With everything that had happened today, he didn't have the energy to fight back. The ocelot arched one eyebrow at him disbelievingly.

"General Black?" he asked, sounding skeptical. The feline's lip twitched upwards at the corner. "Perhaps you meant somebody else. Maybe our custodian, Kyle Black?"

It took all of Fox's self-restraint not to snap back at the ocelot for harassing him and holding him up like this. "Please, just check his schedule. My name is there," he muttered.

The feline rolled his eyes in a long arc, letting out an impressive sigh before glancing back down at his monitor and entering a few keystrokes in. Fox couldn't help but feel a little smug when a look of surprise passed over the ocelot's eyes, followed by a flash of realization that the person he'd been mocking was about to meet with his boss' boss' boss. Fear sparked behind his eyes. His back straightened up instantly, any hint of sarcasm vanished from his tone.

"Ah, of - of course, I have you penciled in right here, Captain McCloud," he stammered out. "The elevator is w-waiting for you, right back there." The feline motioned hurriedly behind himself, pointing at a set of doors that had just slid open. Fox nodded once.

"Thanks," he replied, doing his best to hold down the satisfied smile that was trying so hard to plaster itself on his face. He pushed off the desk, turning around and heading towards the doors with just a bit more spring in his step. People here might look down on him because he was a mercenary, but even they couldn't deny the truth. Star Fox had done more for the Cornerian effort than almost anyone else, both their current trio and his parents before him. Fox felt the familiar ice creep through his muscles that always came bundled with thinking about his parents, old memories simmering to the surface of his thoughts. He shook his head though, blinking a few times as the elevator doors closed behind him. Now wasn't the time to dwell on the past. It was time to think about what the future held for him. For his team. For Krystal.

The data sphere resting in his pocket suddenly felt heavy, weighing down like an orb of solid iron. He fished it out into the open, letting his eyes slip over the contours of its surface for the millionth time. It shined dully in the low light, glare glinting off the interlocking faces of black plastic and stainless steel, its exterior only marked with a serial code and a single M engraved in the back. The floor rumbled beneath his feet, and after another second he was rocketing away from the ground, the rude receptionist morphing into a grain of sand in the distance. He traced one claw along the grooves in the orb's surface until he stopped at the rectangular port sunk into its front. What could be stored on it that was so important? Why had he gone all that way for something so small? His fingers clenched around it, making his hand shake just a little. What could possibly be hidden in this small clump of plastic and metal that was worth destroying a planet over? That was worth slaughtering all those innocent lives? Fox gulped, his vision blurring a little at the next thought to bubble into his head. That was worth almost killing Krystal over?

He leaned back against the wall of the elevator, letting loose a drawn out sigh. He'd have his answers soon enough. If anyone knew what was happening, if anyone could help him get even with the evil ape that had shattered the vixen's life, it was Cas. The hollow expression that haunted Krystal's deep, beautiful eyes only gave him another reason to wipe that maniac off the face of the universe.

In the meantime though, Fox had every intention of making a new home for the blue fox with himself. She had nowhere to go, no one to turn to, and he knew better than anyone what that felt like. He'd be there for her, for as long as she wanted him there. If he was lucky enough, maybe she would stay with him on the Great Fox. The vulpine knew that the ship would feel empty without her radiance onboard at this point. He still hadn't worked up the courage to ask her to stay though, his invitation to Star Fox still stuck on the tip of his tongue. He wanted nothing more than for the vixen to join them, for her to sail the stars right alongside him. The image of them spending night after night together in the lounge, of them falling asleep in each other's arms, on each other's shoulders, made him weak in the knees. The blue fox could more than hold her own in a fight too, something they clearly needed some help with after their previous run in. He felt a surge of confidence pulse through his veins, making his fur stand on end and his heart swell. Fox would ask her to join. He had to. After that, he could only hope the vixen would even consider joining him.

Fox was shaken out of his thoughts by the lift clattering to a sudden halt, the tile underfoot shuddering just a little as the e-diffuser absorbed most of the sudden acceleration. The door opposite him opened, revealing a small waiting room painted with warm oranges and reds. He stepped out into it, the hot air and its spiced cinnamon scent wafting into his nose. As the elevator doors chimed shut behind him, his eyes drifted between the abstract paintings hanging on the walls and the dark oak furniture arranged across the space. The entire waiting room was cozy, the furniture ornate and overstuffed, the windows small portals to the clouds floating lazily by. As his sight drifted along, he finally came to a rest on a desk settled in the corner, with binders and folders stacked neatly atop each other, and several large monitors glowing with information. Behind all of those was a red, female avian, her plumage peppered with black feathers and a pair of thin glasses settled above her beak. He was sure that Falco would have tried to flirt with her until he was red in the face, but he knew it wouldn't even faze this particular bird. She readjusted her glasses on her nose, a polite smile forming on her face when she made eye contact with the vulpine.

"Good evening, Captain McCloud," she said cordially. "How are you tonight?"

Fox smiled back, her warmth a breath of fresh air amidst the coldness being directed towards him. "Nice to see you again, Delilah. I'm doing fine," he said, walking over towards her desk. He leaned against the wall next to them, crossing his arms as his eyes scanned her desk. Impeccably organized, as usual. Delilah was Cas' secretary, and had been for years. However, she wasn't part of the military, unlike everyone else in the building. Cas had hired her separately, insisting on filling the position with someone he could personally trust to get the job done correctly. She'd taken over the role with incredible results. Delilah was sharp as a whip, and just about the most organized person alive. Fox wasn't exaggerating when he said that this woman singlehandedly kept the entire Cornerian military in line. More importantly though, the fact that she wasn't military meant that she'd never given him the cold shoulder.

"Why does everyone insist on calling me by that old title today though?" the tod asked, rolling his eyes and grinning. "You know I'd prefer it if you just called me Fox."

The avian leaned back in her chair, setting her pen down and smirking a little. "Stop commanding the most important Cornerian warship we have first, and then we'll discuss names, Captain."

Fox chuckled at that. "What about you, then? I know Cas wouldn't be able to go five minutes without steering a cruiser into an asteroid without your help. Does that mean I have to call you Captain Briggs?"

The red bird shrugged her shoulders at that, picking her pen back up and tapping a few times on the screen in front of her. "If you'd like, I'd certainly have no objection to that. Maybe we should save the small talk for another time though." The avian swiped up on her screen, making the communicator on his wrist flash with a new access code. "That will get you into the General's office for your meeting."

"Thanks," Fox said, giving the code a cursory examination. He pushed off the wall, striding towards the hallway behind them. "I'll see you later, Captain Briggs," he joked, throwing her one last glance over his shoulder. She pushed her glasses back up her beak, arching one eyebrow at him in amusement before returning back to her work.

After wandering down the maze of corridors that was Cornerian high command, Fox found himself face-to-face with a pair of heavy doors. They were solid wood, imprinted with blocky geometric designs snaking from the top down to the hinges. On the front was a simple nameplate, printed in large white text:

CASPIAN BLACK

Fox took a deep breath, restraining a little twinge of fear that pricked in the back of his mind. He was afraid of the answers that Cas might have for him. Afraid they might only make matters worse, might send Krystal spiraling back into the black void she'd barely managed to claw her way out of. If Krystal slipped back into that catatonic state she'd struggled so violently to break free from… Fox knew he couldn't stomach that. Seeing the vixen's blank eyes again would break him.

He steeled himself after a moment though. She deserved to know what happened to her planet, her people, her family. The vixen deserved justice just as badly as he did. Even if the path in front of them was littered with jagged shards of hurt, the blue fox was tough, brave. She could handle anything the universe dished out to her.

And I'll be right by her side every step along the way.

Fox took the cool metal handle in his hand, its sculpted surface pressing into his palm. He creaked the door open, letting a beam of light spill out through the crack. The door groaned shut behind him with a soft click. Fox blinked a few times to readjust to the brightness. Once his eyes had acclimated, he let his hand down from his brow, taking in the peculiar room laid out before him.

The first thing most people noticed about Cas' office was just how grand it was. The room was massive, decorated with fine leather furniture, flecked marble columns, muted brown wooden floors and coal black walls. True to form, there were virtually no bookshelves in the room, aside from a small one tucked away in corner that was sparsely populated by a few thin volumes. His desk was notably bare as well, save a few pads of paper and a holoscreen. The General never had placed much stock in theory or abstract ideas, not even back during their time at the Academy. He'd always hated sitting still, preferring to spend his time tinkering and fiddling with projects. Cas wanted practical answers, orders that could be executed and return hard results, even if that was met with failure the first time. This led to the wolf spending most of his time around his real tool of choice: a single holotable in the center of the room that constantly ran the simulations and tactics that popped into his head.

Fox glanced over at the table now, and sure enough, he saw Cas' white figure bent over the glowing screen, holograms popping up and hovering all around him. The light thrown up from its surface illuminated his face in an ethereal blue, tinting the fur around his muzzle in a delicate cyan. The lupine's eyes darted back and forth in rapid succession, one of his hands snapping up to adjust a hologram every few seconds. Cas was completely absorbed in his own world of probability and maneuvers, unaware that Fox had walked into his office. The tod cleared his throat after a second, shuffling in place awkwardly. The wolf's ears twitched towards the sound, bringing his eyes up curiously. A smile bloomed on his face when they made eye contact across the way.

"Fox! Glad you could make it," Cas yawned, stretching his back out as he uncurled himself from over his simulations. "I assume it was just as much of an ordeal as always to get up here?"

The vulpine chuckled a little, images of the last half hour of scrutinization popping into his mind. "You could say that. I'm used to it by now though," he shrugged, stepping up the elevated platform Cas was working on. His eyes scanned over the table briefly, but as usual, he couldn't make heads or tails of the mass of ships and space debris that flicked in and out of existence on the display.

The lupine shook his head and crossed his arms. "I don't know how many times I've told them to lighten up on your screening process, honestly! Heaven forbid Falco ever try to make it up here, he might end up detained." The mental image of the avian squawking and spewing profanities while being dragged away made an amused breath escape Fox's lips.

"I wouldn't worry about him ever coming around here," Fox smirked. "I'm pretty sure Falco is allergic to hard work. All the productivity in this building might kill him." Cas laughed at that, the smile on his face and the energy in his eyes blooming.

"So nothing's changed since the Academy then," he remarked, his strong voice twinkling. He arched one eyebrow at the vulpine after a moment, giving him a look not dissimilar to Lily's grin earlier. A small pang of nervousness appeared in the tod's stomach, knowing all too well what Cas was about to bring up. "I suppose that's not entirely true though, now is it?" he started. "After all... I think the last time I saw you with a girl was when you and Fara were still together."

Fox gulped, sweat beading on his palms. Why was everybody bent on egging him about the blue fox? Was it that obvious that he was head over heels in love with her? "Y-yeah," he stammered out, looking to change the subject. The last thing he needed was to try and sort out his feelings in front of Cas. He'd have a hard enough time doing that on his own. "Like I said, we rescued her back on Cerinia. Krystal's been through a lot, over the past few weeks. It's incredible how brave she is, and how much she's been able to overcome..." he trailed off, his eyes misting over as the perpetual image of the beautiful vixen bubbled to the surface of his mind. The lupine snickering and shifting his weight to his other foot broke Fox free of his trance. A blush immediately broke out underneath his fur when he realized he'd already been caught daydreaming. He berated himself internally, veering the conversation back on course. "Actually, Cas... speaking of her, I know we both have a lot of questions about what happened back there." His tail flicked behind himself, anxious. "For her sake, I was hoping you might be able to give us some answers.

The white wolf nodded slowly, his eyes turning serious. He might be bright and bubbly in casual conversation, but they made him General for a reason. Cas took his responsibility seriously. "I understand, and I'll tell you anything you want. It's the least I can do, with everything that's gone so awry," he said, morose. "But first, we should talk about what you picked up back on the planet. I think that should clear away a lot of your confusion. Do you still have the sphere with you?"

Fox reached one hand inside his pocket. The fur on his fingers tingled against the metal and bumpy plastic. Its chrome surface gleamed in the bright light outside his jacket, white from the overhead lights and blue from the table below. The tod hesitated for just a moment before setting it in the wolf's extended hand. Genocide had been committed because of whatever was on that sphere. Everyone that Krystal had known and loved, murdered over its secrets. The stab of pain that ripped through his heart at that thought was surely nothing compared to the void that had been wrought in the vixen's chest. The mass of all those lost lives weighed down the orb in his hand. Its gravity didn't lift even after Cas removed the circle from his grasp, its phantom density still lingering behind.

"I think the best place to start is why I sent you down there to begin with," Cas began, coupling the small port in the sphere's face up with his table. White lines began to luminesce on it as it awoke from dormancy. Cas typed a few keystrokes into his display, clearing away all of the clutter to the edges of the screen and leaving a blank canvas in the middle. After a few more clicks, a new directory appeared in the empty space, along with a single, blinking prompt for a username and password. The wolf entered the necessary information, but stopped before he'd finished, instead glancing over towards the vulpine.

"I don't think I need to say this, but what you're going to see here is sensitive. Please," he said, his eyes piercing and somber, "keep this on a need to know basis." Fox nodded after a moment in silent agreement, earning a small sigh from Cas' lips. His eyes shifted forward, locking back onto the glowing screen. "Well then, I think it's high time I brought you up to speed on the biggest threat facing Corneria today: Reclaim." With that, he tapped a final button, the screen blazing to life in front of him while the soft click still echoed across the room.

Videos, images, and audio files all sprang up in front of Fox, enough information thrown at him at once to make his head spin. His eyes scanned across the display, but his confusion only tied itself in knots as he flicked from document to document, trying to connect the dots. Pictures of scientists in biohazard suits and gas masks, videos of white smoke laced with jagged trails of sickly green, scrolling lists of names and headshots. In the middle was the most curious part of it all, a final mystery to top the rest. It was the data pulled off of the sphere itself, but it wasn't a blueprint, a profile, or a plan. Instead, a series of shapes and lines hovered above the surface, rotating and shifting muted colors every few seconds. Fox put one hand under his chin, considering what it could be. His eyes widened when the pieces of the puzzle beginning to fit together in his mind.

"It's a chemical," Fox murmured, racking his brain for the little chemistry they'd taught him back at the Academy. "It's… organic. It's not some kind of weapon, is it?" Fox asked hurriedly, a spike of fear being driven through his heart that he may have just recovered a deadly chemical weapon.

Cas shook his head, grabbing the holographic compound and projecting it upwards, leaving it to spin in front of them. "No. Unfortunately, you're not far off the mark though." The lupine reached a second hand down, bringing up one of the videos drifting around the screen. The image loaded after a moment, expanding to fill the table. "Here," the lupine said, somber, "you should watch this." Fox's eyes narrowed, transfixed on the scene as it was brought into focus.

At first, everything on screen seemed calm. The frame showed a few soldiers resting in the desert, two lounging under the shade of a canopy while a third knelt down with a rifle pressed into his shoulder, scanning the horizon slowly for movement. The harsh sun glinted off one of the buttons on their tan uniforms, creating a little blossom of color in the corner of the screen whenever she shifted into a more comfortable position. The camera jostled slightly as the fourth soldier it was attached to readjusted in his seat. In the back of his head, Fox realized the footage must have been extracted from one of the standard issue cameras attached to most marine's gear. In the background, a small swirl of sand puffed into the air before being carried off into the blistering sun, revealing several other clusters of garrisoned marines dotting across the dune.

In any other context, Fox would've thought this was just another normal day on the war front of Titania, a calm afternoon spent patrolling an isolated base or outpost. A pit was already forming in the bottom of Fox's stomach though, his insides twisting up in anticipation. Whatever Cas was about to show him would be anything but peaceful. The vulpine waited for endless seconds with his eyes glued to the screen, holding his breath in anticipation of everything going horribly wrong.

That was when the first shell detonated.

In the corner of the screen, a sudden shockwave ripped through a distant pack of the soldiers. The tod jumped in place as he watched, caught off guard despite his primed nerves. A plume of sand jetted into the air where the group had just been, instantly enveloping the area in debris and obscuring it from view. The three soldiers in the frame all whipped around when the low, loud sound of an explosion roared past their ears. One of them stumbled to his feet, drawing his weapon in his off hand. There was nothing he could do though.

A violent cloud of gas leapt upwards from the impact site, billowing meters into the air before the soldiers even had a chance to blink. Thick ropes of white smoke lashed out, clawing at the open air as they climbed towards the sky. The reaction had only just begun, however. Fox watched with morbid curiosity as a dark green spot appeared in the billowing cloud. Another followed soon after, and another, and another. Soon, thin green tendrils had woven themselves around the entire bank, overlapping and crisscrossing each other. It was almost beautiful, Fox couldn't help but think to himself.

Until, suddenly, a burst of gunfire blasted through the video.

The soldiers all stumbled backwards as soon as the ripping noise hit their ears, tripping over each other. The camera shook and wavered when one of the other soldiers backed into the fourth marine. None of them were given a lull in the action to recover or react, however. More gunfire bombarded the microphone, while bright muzzle flashes and streaking laser fire peppered the screen. One of the soldiers tried to shoulder their rifle, but it was an empty gesture. A fatal shriek rang through the speakers, and in the distance a plume of red mist bloomed in the air. Off camera, one of the soldiers whispered a short, disbelieving profanity at the sight. Fox's head snapped up, meeting Cas' eyes. He opened his mouth to try and ask what had just happened, but the lupine only held one finger up, motioning for him to continue watching. The vulpine bit his lip, but ultimately swiveled back towards the screen. Misted blood mixed into the dissipating smoke, being carried off with the breeze. Nobody could believe their eyes.

Then the second wave hit.

Another geyser of sand erupted from the ground, enveloping a second, closer group of soldiers. Their eyes were forced to stay on the move, snapping to the side when another explosion tore through a third group, this time the sound roaring through the video when the group of soldiers directly next to them was absorbed by the desert. One of the marines in the frame tried to scramble out of their bunker to safety, but it was too late. An indiscernible blast of sound crackled in Fox's ears and darkness shrouded the video. The tod's fingers clenched around the table, knowing the soldiers they'd been observing had suffered a direct hit from whatever was causing all of this.

Fox was powerless to stop the scene unfolding in front of him as the particles of sand streaming past the lens gave way to the same powdery smoke he'd seen pouring out of the ground before. The tan bled into the dark grey and white, which in turn began to flash with ropes of sickly green. Hissing smoke and wheezing coughs streamed from the video. For a long minute, the vulpine sat with his eyes glued to the screen, his attention rapt on what he'd see when the smokescreen cleared.

A glint of sunlight managed to pierce through a hole in the smoke as it dissipated into nothingness. Fox squinted his eyes in an effort to make out the figures in the frame that were coming back into focus. Two shivering masses took up the majority of the frame, with a third barely visible in the background. The camera was level with the floor now that all of the soldiers had fallen to the dirt. For a long, seemingly infinite moment, their shivering was the only movement in the entire room. Fox, Cas, even the air in the room hung still in time, waiting. The silence on the screen and in the room was only broken when the third marine rose to his knees.

In the very back of the frame, the last soldier shifted and shook in the sand, eventually forcing himself up to his knees. Fox's eyes locked onto his face, scouring his expression for any hint at what might be amiss. Maddeningly though, the only thing the vulpine could see was the soldier's eyes clenched shut, his entire face wrinkled up like he was suffering from a piercing headache. A low groan escaped his lips as he knelt down with one hand clutching at his temple.

"That gas..." Cas murmured next to the vulpine's ear, making him jump a little in surprise. "I've never seen anything like it." On the screen, the soldier finally pushed himself up onto one shaky hand, his lips curling back in pain and baring one gleaming fang. Small trails of sand drifted away where his knuckles curled in the ground, contorting in agony. His whole body lurched and trembled. The marine looked like he was on the edge of a breakdown. He finally opened his eyes haltingly, squinting as if he was staring directly into the afternoon sun even though his head was craned down to the desert. Fox gulped when he finally glimpsed the soldier's irises. There was a faraway look in them, unfocused and misty. A shudder ran down the tod's spine when the feline's head lifted up to look directly into the camera, finally finding an anchor in reality.

"It targets cortisol production and sensory perception in the brain," Cas explained, sounding solemn, glancing away from the video slightly at what was soon to come. "About a minute after first contact, symptoms start to appear," he whispered. The end of his sentence was punctuated by a small breath from the marine in question. It was ragged, like the action of breathing itself was tearing down his throat. His eyes grew wider and wider with each passing moment, fear chiseling itself into his features. He stumbled backwards in horror, recoiling away from some invisible assailant that Fox couldn't see. The vulpine looked up for some explanation. Cas' face was grave, and all he witnessed was nauseous contemplation on the wolf's face. Fox opened his lips to ask where this was heading, but he was cut off before he could say anything. The vulpine's head snapped back to the board when a second blood-curdling scream ripped out from the speakers surrounding him, pinning his ears flat back against his skull.

The soldier had previously looked frightened and disoriented, but now that Fox's vision whipped back around to the monitor, he looked horribly, utterly terrified. His dark brown eyes tore from side to side. His mouth was twisted into an agonizing cry, teeth bared at an unseen threat. His body shook violently as his muscles drew into iron, nearly knocking himself down under the force of his own tremoring. The fur on Fox's back stood on end as he watched the man writhe in an effort to escape his unknown peril. Never in all his years as a mercenary had he seen such pure fear. All semblance of restraint had been rended from his body, leaving only a feral, terrified animal behind.

Without warning, the man's hand leapt to his belt, fumbling wildly with the restraint that held his blaster in next to his hip. Ripping velcro overlaid the sounds of his frantic cries when the soldier finally undid the clasp around his weapon. In an instant the gun was clutched desperately between his shaking hands, the barrel wavering like a leaf in the wind.

"The compound stimulates vivid hallucinations in the vision, sound, touch, and olfactory cortexes of the brain. The elevated cortisol levels induce a state of intense stress and elevated aggression," Cas said, pained. Fox wasn't watching the wolf standing next to him though. He was watching the marine aim his weapon all around him, a frenzied look in his dilated pupils. He was looking for a target. He needed to find the source of his horror. And within a few moments, the soldier onscreen finally found what he was searching for.

Fox's eyes were glued to the screen when the end of the soldier's weapon finally settled still, aimed directly at the camera - and the soldier it was attached to. A blinding flash of light erupted from the center of the screen, and just as quickly the recording faded into a hushed static.

There was no sound in Cas' office aside from the disturbed breathing of the two canines and the ominous static of the destroyed camera feed. Fox could hardly process what he'd just seen. He'd spent a grueling proportion of his life on the battlefield, both as a mercenary and in the military before that. He knew from experience that the bonds formed under enemy fire were some of the strongest a person could make. A cold shiver rattled the vulpine to his core. Despite that, all it took was a breath of gas to transform that soldier from a dedicated hand on the war front into... into... Fox struggled to find the word he was looking for. The man acted like he'd been possessed. Only a monster could so easily be enticed into gunning down their brothers and sisters.

"This has happened all across Lylat, Fox," Cas said, finally tapping a few buttons on his display to end the video. The static faded from the screen while the lights flickered back into their previous incandescence. The tod's green eyes squinted into the brightness, barely noticing the readouts returning to their places amidst his shock. "Andross has been testing his new weapon again and again on our forces, fine tuning its effects. It's called the Regionally Encrypted Cortisol Leap Anomalous Illusion Magnifier, or Reclaim. Inhalation of the gas leads to acute paranoia, stress, and hallucinations. Victims project those hallucinations onto the people around them, and... you saw what happens after that."

Fox could only gaze forward, staring absently out past the confines of their room and into the sea of clouds floating by. It was disturbingly calm juxtaposed next to the horrors he'd just seen. The wolf took the tod's pale face, his white knuckles, and his angry silence as permission to continue. "When we heard the first reports, our best scientists threw themselves into making a cure. There had to be a cure," he growled through gritted teeth, seemingly cursing himself. "But after months of failed trials, it was still a massacre anywhere Andross decided to gas our troops. See, it's more than just a hallucinogen... it's a lock. A bad dream that never ends," Cas said, sighing and leaning against his table.

"Once the gas enters the body, it does more than just bind to a few receptors and wreak some temporary havoc, like most hallucinogens do. This gas attaches to the brain, and then permanently folds the neurons in the regions of the brain responsible for sensory perception, imaginative processing, and hormone regulation." Cas brought a few new holograms up, this time of a chain of long nerves bending and knotting around each other. "You'd think that twisting a bunch of nerves in a person's head would kill them instantly, but... this gas doesn't work like that. When Reclaim is done with its dirty work, the new structure of the victim's mind sends it into a state of unrestricted lucid imagination, since the part of the brain responsible for imagination has been stuck in overdrive. Breaking sensory perception means those bad dreams feed directly into all of their senses, and breaking hormone regulation means their body will produce an unchecked amount cortisol, leading to acute stress and fear."

Cas pulled a new window onto the screen, this time a list of victims that had succumbed to the gas. "In effect, it traps the brain in an unstoppable state of fast-paced, dark creativity. People who are used to working with their brains and are accustomed to either critical thinking or creativity tend to be able to withstand the effects for longer, but the end result has always been fatally inevitable."

Fox shook his head, still trying to regain his composure. "So what stops us from just unfolding the nerves?" he asked.

Cas shrugged, looking defeated. "In theory, we could inject some nanites into the victim, and have those repair the damage. But this gas is smart. It doesn't just fold the neurons, it ties them." The diagram in front of them began to zoom out, illustrating a growing web of intertwined nerves, first a hundred, then a thousand, and so on until it was little more than an indiscernible labyrinth of strings. "The new architecture of the victim's brain is quite literally encrypted, like you'd see in a computer. Only here, the lock's information is stored in the knots instead of electric bits, trapped in its overactive position until we find the key."

"Finding the key," Cas continued, turning back to his table, "that's where the Cerinians came in." The word immediately shook Fox out of his reverie, flagging his ears up high as the lupine pulled up a new image on the board in front of them of a small research station hidden deep in the forest. Something about it tugged at the back of the vulpine's mind, eerily familiar and making his tail twitch in anticipation. Then it clicked.

This was the research station on Cerinia. The one I got the data sphere from, before I met... her.

"Our best physicians were stumped," Cas continued, even as Fox spent most of his attention absorbed in the photo of a place he thought he would never see again. "But the Cerinians... For all their adamant refusal of progress," he said with a slight sour tone to his words, "they understood technologies and medicines of the mind better than anybody. Within a few months, they had the cure." When Fox looked up at the wolf, instead of seeing the relief that sentence normally implied, he only witnessed a look of bitter, crushing defeat.

"Unfortunately, that was the day Andross decided to burn the planet to ashes. We're not sure how he caught wind of such a top secret project, but the outcome was swift and violent. Half of his army was mobilized within hours, with the sole intent of securing that research for themselves. We sent you to retrieve the data on what was supposed to be a peaceful mission, but clearly it ended up being anything but. If they had managed to get their hands on the cure, the results would've been catastrophic. Luckily for us, the head researcher performed one last heroic act before Venomians could storm her facility." The wolf tapped on a file scattered to the edge of his screen, bringing a new picture to the center of the screen. It was of a female fox who was slightly older than himself, with the same brilliant blue fur as Krystal. She stared up at Fox through the screen with piercing steel-grey eyes. A bead of sweat trailed down his back under her cold scrutiny.

"Meet Doctor Aurelia, the premier Cerinian scientist leading the search for a cure. In the final hour of her life, the doctor took the blueprint for the finished cure, and split it into several different fragments. She loaded each piece of her research onto a different data sphere, and ejected all of them into warp away from the planet's surface. When Venom reached her lab and the data was nowhere to be found, Doctor Aurelia and her team all paid the ultimate price. Soon afterwards, Andross decided to scorch the planet's surface." A soft red X appeared over her picture, greying the image out. Fox gulped when he saw it. "If we can get all of the spheres back, we can make a cure. We can end this war, here and now, Fox." Cas powered down his table, turning and looking at Fox with deathly seriousness like a stone monolith behind his eyes. "We can end this forever."

The tod had to look away from Cas' blistering stare, his insides still in turmoil. No matter where he looked, Fox could feel the deceased researcher's vivid eyes burrowing into his skull, burning a hole through his skin. Try as he might, the vulpine couldn't shake the creeping dread that had sunk its cold, serrated hooks into his heart. He felt a broken ache for the fate of a planet that didn't deserve incineration, a people that didn't deserve extermination, a scientist that had only wanted to save lives. The one true image he couldn't get out of his mind though was of the vixen he'd spent the last month next to. He knew where this conversation was heading. He also knew he would accept the subsequent mission without hesitation.

There was still one loose thread in his chain of logic, however, and that was the blue vixen. A fresh horror snaked through his synapses when he involuntarily pictured the same scene that had played out with the soldiers, only this time it was him standing over the blue fox, a wild look in his own eyes, a gun held to the only person who he felt complete with. Fox bit his tongue, doing his best to clear his mind of that visceral line of thinking. He couldn't bring himself to imagine a life without Krystal anymore, without her quick humor or devious grin or flaming intellect. Simply trying made a frenzied panic pool in his chest. How could he bring somebody so important in the line of fire? But then, how could he leave her behind?

What's worse, Fox... A world where Krystal's warmth is lightyears away, or snuffed out entirely? Are you selfish enough to keep somebody close by for your own pleasure? Even if it means you might lose another person you lo-

Fox blinked. The vulpine has caught himself quickly, but he was still shocked that he'd been so close to subconsciously using... that word. Was it true?

His introspection was cut short however, interrupted by the lupine unfolding from over the table and turning to face his visitor. Fox blinked a few times to clear his thoughts before looking him in the eye.

"You need my team to find the other spheres," Fox said flatly, with a newfound mettle in his voice that surprised even himself. He was still scared, hell, terrified after what he had seen. This would be the most dangerous mission his team had ever taken on. Something else was layered behind the fear rattling his bones however, barely visible through his murky alarm. His blood boiled with a growing frustration, soon spilling over into seething anger at the universe that seemed bent on continuing to harm the people he cared about. Oddly enough, the source of his rage was the same as the wellspring of his worry and his joy - Krystal. Just picturing the beautiful vixen was enough to stir his heart to battle. He'd wipe that vile simian off the face of this plane of existence for himself, for Lylat.

For her.

He could do anything with the blue fox standing next to him, that much he was sure of. If only he could convince her to come along, he knew nothing would be too difficult for them to weather together. Fox looked back up at Cas after concluding his thoughts, surprising even the wolf with the dead set look in his eye.

"We'll take the job."

Cas blinked once at the sudden reversal he'd just witnessed in the vulpine. He wasn't one to take a good answer for granted though, and his lips eventually broke out into his trademark wide smile, the weariness evaporating from his posture and leaving behind his typical boisterousness. His eyes lit up in sparkling yellow, fire burning in his irises that was fanned by the rhythmic wagging of his tail in the background.

"That's the best news I've heard all day, Foxy," he said, standing up straight and folding his arms in satisfaction. He struck a pose somewhere between valiance and heroism, which combined with his full grin, made Fox chuckle despite himself. Cas' ability to be grim as death one second and cheerful as a pup the next was still a marvel to him. "If we can pull this off... well, I think our parents would've been proud."

The vulpine pressed his lips into a thin line before nodding once.

Fox opened his lips to respond with more than just a gesture, but found the words on his tongue interrupted by a short buzz from his wristcom. He glanced down at the now bright screen and the short message it held from Slippy.

Hurry back, we need to talk.
-S

Fox frowned back at the curt letter. Slippy wasn't one for brevity in his communications, so seeing a six word message from the frog was more unnerving than any novel he would've normally written. When Fox glanced back up from his screen, Cas was busy typing on his own, taking a few extra seconds to finish his message before hitting send.

"There," Cas said, obviously pleased with himself, "I've sent the preliminary briefing to the Great Fox. We can discuss payment there, and then I'll transmit the details of your next mission." The lupine stuck one graceful hand out, his back going militarily rigid. "As always, it's a pleasure doing business with you, Star Fox."

Fox rolled his eyes at the nickname that now both Lily and he had used, but ultimately he returned the handshake. "Always happy to help. I'll see you later, General," he finished, finally turning for the door and stepping back out into the hall. The wolf saluted as he walked out, his lopsided grin still spread across his face.

He held the gesture until he heard the large wooden doors click shut. When the metal clasp eventually snapped closed, sealing him off from the rest of the world, it was as if somebody had cut the strings holding the lupine up. Knowing he was finally alone again, Cas sank against his table, leaning on it for support he desperately needed. The wolf sat there for a long minute with grave thoughts trudging through his mind, his eyes scan haltingly back and forth against the tile underfoot.

Bzzzz. Bzzzz.

His wristcom's hollow vibrations made his ears twitch anxiously. Cas glanced down at it, staring at the screen without actually reading it. Moments before the call would have disconnected, he tapped the accept button, waiting in cold silence for the person on the other end to address him. After a minute, that voice finally came.

"...Did you meet with him?" a female prompted from the other end.

"Yeah," Cas breathed, a hand running down his exhausted face. "There's a problem. He's traveling with a Cerinian."

Silence. Only the sound of his own shallow breath met his ears until the voice came again.

"Does he know?"

Cas paused, thinking intently. "No. No, he doesn't know."

"Then I believe nothing has changed," she responded instantly. "I advise you stay course, General."

"Right..." Cas mumbled absently. "Just jarring," he continued, rising to his feet and shaking off the cold film that had coated his mind and body since that blue vixen first admitted to being a Cerinian. "That's all."

/

A/N: Heh… Hey guys, it's been a while. I have a few updates here for y'all. First, I'd like to apologize for how long it's been since I've updated. I got hit with a whole string of hard things I had to work through, and writing has always been hard when I can't devote a lot of brain space to it over the course of the day. But I recently came into some time and a newfound love for this story, so… Here's the next chap. :) It's definitely less fluffy than usual, but don't worry, this is still primarily a Fox/Krystal story, don't doubt that. It's just about time to start revealing a little more of the plot behind everything.

Also, I'll be moving to trying to publish shorter chapters more frequently, I think. Every chap has been a series of scenes more or less, but I think I want every scene to be it's own chapter now. It'll make it easier for me to write, and it'll mean I can get content out more often. If it doesn't work out I'll switch back, but it seemed to work for this chapter, so we'll see how it goes!

Thanks for reading as always guys, and I'll catch you in the next chapter, hopefully coming soon! :D