-Chapter VIII-

"Inside the Dark Star"

Fox got his gear together as quickly as he could, he wasn't sure why but, James had told him to be on the ready. He was already wearing his new uniform...though he seriously doubted that a tank top and camo jeans could be called a uniform. He checked over his gear a few times, though he admitted that those two animals from before had caught him off guard he wasn't about to allow that to happen again. His bruised ribs luckily didn't give him too much grief. As he made his way out of the Dark Star's docking bay he noticed the ship that had been docked beside his...he wasn't sure weather or not he'd seen it before. Then again when he had seen it on the Great Fox it was from behind so this was understandable. He made his way down the street double checking his gear; Pk-101 (small rifle), two assault rifles, his blaster, a standard pistol, his lucky combat knife of course, and quite a few grenades, not to mention his new Sonic Disruptor Rifle. To anyone looking at him he looked like some sort of fucked up commando. It was as he rounded the corner to the bar that he dove behind a nearby dumpster and pulled out his Pk-101; Pk-101s were older models of a more standard sniper rifle, though it did fire bullets it used the Rail Gun theory instead of forced propulsion with gun powder, it fired it's bullets by using very powerful, very small, electromagnets, this made the weapon as silent as any sniper rifle could hope to be...

Fox peered through the scope of the weapon while laying down and facing the rifle toward the bar from under the dumpster. There were thugs everywhere in the nearby alleys, and it looked like they were being as quiet as possible to take the people inside by surprise. Fox had to think fast. As he scoped out the area he could clearly see Nex through one of the bar's windows mixing a drink, and as Nex began to put the bottle away a silent shot from Fox's rifle caused the bottle to burst in his hand. The bar instantly burst into commotion causing the thugs around the place to barge in. Fox took a few more shots but, after he'd killed five or so the weapon made the sound of arching electricity...

"FUCK!!" Fox yelled throwing it to the ground, "Of all the times for the coil to go out!""

Fox pulled his assault rifle and rushed toward the bar which was now filled with the sound of gunfire and screaming, the place had erupted into an all out war. Fox didn't want to rush through the front door in fear of getting caught in a deadly crossfire. As he noticed an opened window on the second floor Fox quickly leaped onto the roof of a nearby car then onto the awning above the door to the bar...he quickly dove through the opened window whipping his gun in every direction until he noticed that he was in a bathroom. He then heard a frightened voice from behind him. He quickly turned to see one of the call girls wrapped in a towel and crouched down behind the tub, the young pink furred bunny was scared half to death...

She'd helped Fox clean up downstairs before, "Roxy?"

At the sound of his voice she quickly glanced at him, "Scar? What the hell's going on?" She asked crawling out to join him.

Fox reached behind him and handed her his blaster, "You know how to use this?..." He asked.

She gave him a disappointed look, "Look at the shit-hole I grew up in..."

He had to admit she had a point, "Good...get something on and head out the window...you can hide inside my ship it's a big black one you can't miss it."

"What about you?" Roxy asked.

"I gotta go help everyone else..." Fox replied, "...don't worry about me I'll be fine. Just go!"

Roxy hesitated for a moment but, she finally got the point and grabbed her things not bothering to put anything on before rushing out the window. Fox rushed into the hall to find two of the gang's thugs but they were riddled with shots before they could react to his presence. He lowered and shook his head as he saw what they were shooting at, the other girls hadn't been as lucky as Roxy, they lay dead at the end of the hall. Fox sucked in his rage at the sight, he couldn't afford to go over the deep end now. He cautiously made his way to the stairs and headed into the bar itself; the scene was brutal but nothing less than what he was told to expect the patrons were on the far side of the room all hiding behind overturned tables and such, blaster holes and blood riddled the wooden surfaces of the tables and counter, bodies lay everywhere, some riddled with blaster and bullet wounds while others seemed to have died far more excruciating deaths. The members of the 8s were just below him, but, he dared not open fire on them or they'd turn their attention to him, and these quarters were too small to use a grenade. "Fuck it!" He lowly shouted to himself pulling two grenades from his belt.

Fox barreled down the stairs and hooked left toward the bar counter, as the gunfire went off behind him nipping at his heels Fox made a leap toward the bar while turning and lobbing the grenades into the small crowd of gang members. Unfortunately Fox had held them a moment too long and the blast went off before he could safely land behind the bar; the shock wave from the blast slammed his body limply into Nex's hidden door which collapsed under the impact. Fox stood up slowly shaking his head, his back was killing him and for good reason. He pulled out his Disruptor Rifle only to find it had be smashed between him and the wall...

"GOD DAMN IT TO HELL!!" He shouted throwing the destroyed weapon to the ground, "I DIDN"T EVEN GET TO USE THIS DAMN THING!!"

He sighed as he turned his attention to the room, "Nex you in here?"

Fox's face was quickly covered by three blasters, "WHOA!!" He exclaimed, "Maybe I was better off in the war zone."

His expression went from cynical to serious as he saw her face, Krystal, Creed, and Nex were all still aiming at hi s face when Nex finally threw down his blaster and headed over to Fox...

"SCAR!?" Nex yelled, "God am I glad to see you. This is Kursed, Creed,and Lia...they were here to talk about Taniks apparently Kursed and Creed were hired to kill him too."

Fox looked over to the three as Krystal gave him an odd look, "God don't let them recognize me..."He pleaded.

"I guess we owe you one...but we didn't ask for your help."

Fox was happy for that but she still had a venom to her voice, "What help?" He laughed, "I like this bar..."

Creed looked his way and smiled a bit, "Well thank you nonetheless Scar...my sister's not much of a fighter." He said walking over and shaking the vulpine's paw. Fox was a bit shocked when Creed smiled and winked at him...

He knew it was Fox, then again unlike Krystal he had been there to treat the wound on his face and was well aware of the scar it left behind, "No problem but...I think it's safe to say that my little friend may have been caught. That could be why they attacked this place..." Fox said keeping his voice slightly masked, "...I'm headed out to find that prick Taniks I got a good feed on where he is from the last time James called me...but I could use a few spare clips of 5.56 rounds for this thing." He finished holding up his assault rifle.

Nex tossed him two clips, "Take these two with you they can help."

Fox looked over Krystal and Creed, "Sorry...but I work alone."

Nex tried to stop him but Fox barreled out of the room and his gunfire joined the hail as he vanished. Krystal and Creed stood by for a moment until Krystal's face contorted with anger as she pulled her blaster...

"What the fuck are you waiting for Creed!! That son of a bitch is gonna beat us to the punch!" Krystal yelled rushing out into the fray.

Creed turned to Lia and gave her his blaster while pulling his assault rifle, "You stay here with Nex. I gotta help her or the stupid bitch is gonna get herself killed."

Krystal or Kursed, rushed out into the slaughter that the explosions had caused firing at anything that shot at her before she broke through what was left of the bar's old fashion saloon doors. She wasn't about to let this stranger take her mark, no matter how cute she thought he was...but there was already something about him that she couldn't stand. As she made her way into the street she looked around until she could see the smallest figure of the fox in the foreground headed for another sector of the city, she gave chase just in time for Creed to burst from the door which flew from it's hinges slamming into a nearby car, he rolled his eyes as he noticed she was running after Fox and quickly followed. He wasn't sure where they were going but, it was quite some time before they stopped running hear what appeared to be an old hotel. The building was rickety and dilapidated; what was left of it's old door barely hung from it's top hinge, the aged and weathered paint on the old style stone building was peeling away to reveal the rust colored brick beneath. Creed cast his eyes several stories up to see Fox rushing up what was left of an old fire escape...Krystal obviously hadn't noticed him as she was searching the alley they were standing in. It wasn't long before she cast her eyes skyward and began to make her way up the fire escape herself.

At the top of the building Kursed caught a glimpse of him as the fox made a running leap from the building, she rushed over to see that he had leaped to another nearby building and crashed through a sixth story window. Fox was in a bit of pain he'd seen Krystal fallowing him and made this slight detour so that he could throw her off his trail. He didn't want her getting into any situation in which she could get hurt...even it they were no longer together he still loved her and would never lead her into danger. He shook his head and dusted the shards of broken glass from his body and pulled a shard out of his left arm where it had lodged itself between his shoulder and elbow. He was lucky he always carried his old bandanna on him as a good luck charm, which he pulled from his back pocket and tied around the wound to stop the bleeding. Fox made a hasty exit of the building making sure he wasn't seen before rushing off in the proper direction. He was traveling for some time before he finally found the building that James's last message had come from. It was some sort of old warehouse for a store of some kind, there were signs that read keep out and unsafe structure strewn about the place...yellow caution tape was draped across the door which had clearly been torn away. There were several small vehicles sitting outside the structure...Fox smiled to himself before he made his way to one of the graffiti covered hover cycles; he tied one of his grenades to the underside of the vehicle and tied a small string from the pin to the ground, he did the same thing with the other three, and rigged several of the hover cars to explode in another manner. He made his way cautiously to the warehouse's door and inside found that the place was blocked off from the front so that nobody could see inside. Fox managed to find a safe place to hide as soon as he was inside... "I'd give anything for a cloaking device right now." He whispered to himself.

Fox peered over the large covered crates that he used as shelter, there was hardly anyone here; two wolves, a few raccoons, a fox, and as far as he could tell one chameleon. The place was set up like some sort of den. There were places to sit everywhere, a television that was of a pretty decent size, a refrigerator...and in the far back a single room behind a wooden door with a glass window. As Fox looked on he could see two silhouettes taking turns punching something...

"Twenty to one says that's James...poor kid." Fox thought to himself. "What the hell is in this crate?"

Fox lifted the top of the wooden box closest too him and slapped his muzzle shut ducking back behind the crate...as soon as he was sure that he was clear and nobody had hear the squeaking sound his voice made, Fox stood up and lifted the top again. It was full of weapons, blasters, SMGs, assault rifles, sniper rifles...you name it it was there...

"HeHeHe...happy birthday Fox..." Fox thought to himself as he reached into the crate and pulled out a second assault rifle loading it with one of his clips.

It was as Fox sat the weapons down for a moment that he noticed writing on one of the boxes...

"Omni-corp R&D...Ship parts? Why ship parts?" Fox mentally asked himself.

As he slowly opened the crate Fox's eyes doubled in size; inside was a streamlined object roughly the length of his old sonic rifle, it's body was large and round, covered in small hoses, there was an impression near the end of the object...As he looked onto the object in awe he noticed a hard disk and a document...

"Lets see..." He thought beginning to read to himself, "Crystalic Fusion Array...shipment number 132, April 7th...9:30am...destination, Xenass? Why would Omni send their new stuff here? And what the hell is this anyway? Some sort of super compact engine? Better take it anyhow...never know when something from Omni will come in handy."

Fox removed the object and strapped it to his back, making sure to take the hard disk as well. He picked up his two assault rifles and began to move as quietly as he could toward the office like room in the back, hoping that they hadn't beaten James to death by then. He made his way through the shadows, taking cover behind whatever objects he could. Soon enough he found himself laying down behind a large black sofa, as some animal had just plopped down and turned on the TV. Fox started to peer over the back of the couch but just as he got a look at what appeared to be the back of a raccoon's head the animal called out to someone...

"YO!!JAY-JAY! MARQEZ WON THAT FIGHT! SANDERS GOT HIS ASS KNOCKED OUT IN THE SECOND ROUND! FIFTY BUCKS BITCH!!"

"Yea bite me ya lucky fuck!!" Another voice called from across the room.

Fox looked over the sofa again only this time he noticed that there wasn't anyone around; he quickly reached around the raccoon's head taking clamping his muzzle shut and using it for leverage as he twisted the animal's neck sharply to one side resulting in a small fit of twitches before the raccoon went limp, and his head fell to his chest, his broken neck no longer able to support it. Fox fixed the raccoon to look like he was sleeping and hurried back behind the sofa as he noticed a set of footsteps coming his direction. As he did a wolf made his way over to the raccoon and tossed a small wad of bills on his lap...

"Man I hope TJ doesn't come back to find ya like this..." The wolf started to wander off before he notice that his friend wasn't breathing.

He instantly took the raccoon by the vest and started shaking him, "Teak? TEAK! This shit ain't funny ma...(urmph)..."

His words were cut off as Fox, in an incredibly quick and lithe move jolted over the back of the sofa taking the wolf by the muzzle and dragging him over the sofa. The wolf's eyes doubled in size as he felt the cold blade of Fox's knife bite into his neck and slide across his throat. The wolf tried his hardest to fight but, as his attempted breaths began to flood his lungs with blood his flailing ceased until the only sound left was of the wolf attempting to breath through the knew hole in his neck. Fox lay the wolf on the ground and made sure to take the credits off the raccoon's lap before heading again to the door...and as he made it to the door he threw it open and ducked inside only to throw up his rifles aiming at the James's face who had a rather large blaster pointed at him...

"Huh...Taniks." Fox said as the two burly looking wolves stepped to the side.

The ape smiled, "Surprised? I put out a false photo to confuse morons like you but, you all found me here anyhow...even Kursed is here after me."

Fox removed a small device from his pocket after dropping his guns and pressed a small button with a happy grin as Taniks slapped a paw over his ear, "It's anchored now. See I wasn't so sure I could trust you at first...and pops always said 'follow your instincts'. Apparently he was right. There's enough C-12 in that thing to split your skull like a melon." Fox smiled even wider, "I tell ya my old mechanic could think up some pretty twisted shit when he was in a fucked up mood."

This time Taniks smiled, "Boys if he pushes that button, blow the fucker's head off."

The wolves both snapped to attention pointing what appeared to be shotguns at him, Fox laid his hands to his side for a moment, "Well I can see we should work something out here..." Fox held out a paw with the detonator in it "...Kursed and Creed are on their way here, so they would kill you and me if given the chance. I say you can concentrate on them and I'll just take this thing on my back and leave the detonator with you. That way I get compensated and you get you life."

"I'm afraid I can't do that..." Fox twitched his arm as if he were to press the button that could cause Tanik's head to burst, "WAIT! Alright...boys put 'em away. Just give me the detonator and you can go."

"You really think I'm stupid enough to just give this to you?..." Fox replied, "I'm insulted. You three walk out the door and make for the front of this place...once I'm in the clear then you can have it."

"Fine..."

Fox stepped to one side allowing the three to walk out the door and picked up his assault rifles strapping one to his back and then making his way out of the room. Two of the other animals in the room tried at one time to stop Fox but were waved away by Taniks, and soon the three were standing in the open outside. As they stood facing each other Fox told them to throw their weapons, which they quickly did...

"Now before I give you this who do you work for?"

Taniks smiled, "Omni...that's all you're getting."

"Really...this thing on my back isn't important is it?"

"No...it's nothing that can't be replaced, though the corporation will most likely have you killed to get it back."

"Fine by me catch..." Fox replied tossing Taniks the detonator.

As soon as the device was in the ape's paw the two wolves reached for something under their black jackets, but where cut down by a spray of death from Fox's assault rifles, "That was very un-smart."

As Fox started to walk away he could hear Taniks yell for the others that were inside...but he went silent as he saw a familiar looking device in Fox's paw which was held up by the side of his head. "SON OF A..." Tanik's curse was cut short by a loud but dull pop. Fox had switched the detonator with another in his pocket, he didn't even bother to look back on the decapitated ape, but as he rad down the street he could hear the sound of several well timed explosions...they tried to follow Fox but his surprise dealt with them. Fox rushed back through town toward the bar where his payment waited, for a short while he had hoped that his feelings about the kid were wrong, it would have been nice to have a partner again, but the ape had crossed him...and that was something the new Fox...that Scar had no intention of dealing with...


(I wanted to get this done a bit sooner but things came up and well I got stuck...if there are any confusing points let me know and I'll clear it up in chapter 9 ...R&R and tanks for the support as always - The footsteps in the darkness)