Disclaimer: Star Fox © Nintendo. Original Content © Me (See A/N)
Chapter 8: Nyctophilia
The skycar pulled to a stop in the small clearing that at some point might have been a public park, but now was an overgrown, worn down concrete ghost of a location. John didn't like it. It reminded him way too much of back home, and not in a good way. As he, Miranda, and Yaru finally got out of the skycar, Yaru looked around, "I remember this place… This used to be Castle Park."
John rubbed his arm unconsciously, before deciding to unholster his sidearm, a 23-E pistol. It reminded him a lot of an older pistol he once saw in a museum. "Castle Park? Why that name, if I might ask?"
Yaru shrugged, "I never really understood that part. But, it means I have an idea of where we are and where we need to be, roughly. If I remember correctly, the Church is about 3 blocks away, that way." He pointed across the ruined park, "We'd be better off traveling on foot if we want to be stealthy about this."
"A bit late for that." The new voice startled all three of them as a figure garbed in a black pilot suit with a faded tan cloak walked around the corner.
She had her hood pulled over her face, but John immediately remembered, "Wait… It's you! I recognize your voice!"
The figure pulled down her hood, revealing the vixen in question. She gave a warm grin to John, a stark contrast to the cold, calculating, faraway look hidden deep in her eyes, "It's nice to finally meet you, drifter."
Yaru was the second to recognize the vixen, "Krystal?"
John didn't miss the way that name incited a very subtle flinch when she heard it, the ghost of a frown that crossed her face. But, she continued on as if it hadn't happened, "Hello, old friend."
Miranda lowered her pistol and asked, "You three know each other?"
Yaru glanced at John, who shrugged, then replied, "Some time after I'd retired from teaching at the Academy, Star Fox hired me as a personal tutor for Miss Krystal here. Although, I'd heard you left the team at some point. Everything going alright?"
Krystal hesitated very briefly, then nodded, "I apologize for not contacting you sooner. I wound up tied up in some business that I needed to take care of."
Yaru nodded, understanding somewhat, "Well, it's great to see you again. Now, I must ask, how do you and John know each other?"
John was about to interject that he didn't actually know her when she spoke first, "Long story. Now, I've heard you're here to help diffuse a hostage situation. Well, as it so happens, I have reason to suspect that your kidnapper may be important to someone I'm currently investigating, possibly employed by them. Getting to the kidnapper may give me a lead to this person."
Yaru seemed surprised, "You're a private eye now?"
Krystal bit her tongue, "Something like that..." She shook her head, "Anyways, seeing as we share something of a common goal, I was hoping that perhaps we might consider working together to see this through?"
Yaru immediately accepted, with Miranda following close. John hesitated for a moment, before throwing in his acceptance as well.
"So… How did you know we'd be here?" John finally decided to ask as they made their way through the ghost city.
Krystal's eyes remained forward, "Luck of the draw. As it so happened, my target is in this area. However, if I want to talk to him, I'll need to take care of this problem first."
"'This problem?'" John inquired.
"The kidnapper. I do think that she might have some ties to the person I'm trying to find, but I think I might find a better lead among someone who was able to evade me for so long." She seemed a bit sparse on the details, but John wasn't sure he should leave it at that.
He looked around the city again before asking, "So, what do you know about the kidnapper besides the potential ties to your suspect?"
Krystal looked up at the sudden roll of thunder, "Only as much as you do. She's strong, fast, and supposedly able to vanish into thin air."
"So, what can you tell me about the person you're actually here for?" John had a feeling that this was a pointed question to ask, but decided that he was better off asking anyway in case they ran into the person during this.
Krystal remained silent about it, so he decided to try something. He focused his mind to the best of his ability and tried to reach out. He could feel something familiar for a brief moment, before he was quickly and forcefully knocked back into his own head, with a fierce glare from Krystal, who hadn't even broken stride despite stopping him in his tracks. She continued onward, muttering, "You couldn't get in even if your telepathy was genuine."
At that point, John figured that it might be better for his mental health to not press the question any further. He simply glanced back at Yaru and Miranda, who were giving him looks as they continued on, walking past him and continuing toward the abandoned church.
As they neared the church, John caught sight of Miyu, sitting on the steps toward the entrance, Serrin and Sabre were nowhere to be seen. She looked up to see the group and initially grinned when John and Yaru waved at her, but her grin turned into an immediate scowl upon seeing another familiar face. She got up from the steps and stalked toward the group. Once she was within a range she was certain she wouldn't need to shout, she asked, "What are you doing coming here with her?"
Yaru was surprised, but before he could say anything, Krystal spoke over her, "Settle down, Stripes. I'm only here to ask Saru a few questions."
Miyu whirled around, hands balled up into fists, "Right, like what you did to Fara, right? Why should I believe you when all you've tried to do is kill us up until now?"
Yaru was appalled, but tried to deny it, "No, now wait a second, Krystal's just an investigator, she wouldn't try to kill you." He turned to face the vixen, a concerned look in his eyes, "You wouldn't… would you?"
Krystal only looked at the ground, ears folding back. Miyu, inversely, was livid, "Krystal? As in, Krystal from Star Fox Krystal?" She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to keep herself from screaming every obscenity she could think of at her and blowing their cover. She finally opened her eyes and glared at her, "Wasn't enough that you join Lylat's Superstar mercenary team and get into the poster-boy's pants, now you come after my team because it's where the money is, huh? You're just a bounty hunter, ready to kill for anyone just because it gets you a paycheck."
Yaru was struck with disbelief, "Krystal? You're not… You weren't… Are you?"
Krystal met his distressed gaze, "My priorities have changed. My former employer has kept secrets that are worth dying for, and I'm going to find them out, one way or another. But..." She broke off her gaze, "Yes, I am a bounty hunter now."
She fully expected the punch that followed, but she admittedly wasn't expecting it to be from Miyu. She had expected the lynx to claw at her instead, but the punch to the face corrected that assumption. Miyu pulled her pistol, fully ready to kill her when someone stood in between them, "Wait a sec, please!"
"John, get out of my way." Miyu's tone was threatening, but the human clearly wasn't having any of it. "What do you care about what happens to her anyways?"
"She's a Cerinian. A member of the Royal Family. She deserves to know what happened to Cerinia's old friend." John knew he was walking a thin line, "And she told me everything about what happened to her people."
Miyu hesitated, but finally lowered her pistol, deciding that she had more important tasks at hand. As she walked past Krystal, she paused and growled, "Don't think that this changes anything… If you touch Fay, or anyone on my team, I will not hesitate to put a bolt right in-between your eyes."
Krystal only replied, "I'm counting on it."
They continued into the cathedral. John would've remarked that he felt rather uncomfortable being in a place of faith so soon after having felt that his own gods had abandoned his people. However, Miyu's sudden cry of "Fay!" distracted his anxiety. He looked to see Miyu rush toward an unconscious form resting near the altar. She got down onto her knees and lifted the figure up, checking her pulse. She smiled, before turning to the others, "She's okay!"
Fay mumbled and opened her eyes, turning to meet Miyu's face, "...Miyu?"
The familiar sound of G-controllers echoing into the cathedral attracted their attention to the entrance, where two Starwing Armorsuits, one carrying a third figure, flew into the church and landed, releasing their passenger once they landed. John recognized them the instant he saw them, "A little late to the party, don't you think?"
The helmet on one of them opened up and retracted to reveal Serrin's unamused face, "We got turned around. Didn't help we had to pick up him along the way."
Before anyone could say anything else, there was a sudden unusually loud gust of wind, followed by the large, cathedral door, having been left open for years, suddenly slamming shut. The group remained silent, before John, Serrin, and Sabre immediately moved to place themselves around Miyu and Fay, their backs to the duo. Without wasting a second, Serrin addressed her companions, "Nothing gets past us. If you see movement that's not any of us, shoot it."
There was a brief period of silence that felt like forever, before a sound echoed through the cathedral that was entirely too familiar to John. He looked around to find the source of the click, looking upward to see a silhouette on the balcony of the second floor, and a silver glint that he recognized. He froze when he saw it. All it took was a split second when the figure fired the pistol in it's hands. The bullet was aimed for Saru, and it felt like an eternity as he wanted to warn him. The bullet struck, right in the midriff of Yaru de Pon, who had likewise noticed and put himself in the line of fire within a second of seeing it.
John, Serrin, and Sabre immediately drew their weapons and fired at the figure, who retreated behind a wall. Serrin called for Sabre to follow her as she levitated up to the balcony to give chase. John chose to holster his pistol and rushed to Yaru's side. Saru was holding him and doing his best to set the old raccoon down carefully, already pulling out a med-pack from his bag. Krystal was by his side as well, "Saru and I will get him to a hospital." She looked up at John, "You and Miranda get those two out of here. Make sure they're safe."
A shadow erupted from the darkest corners of the grand hall, washing over John and knocking him down. As it retreated into the shadows once again, a voice spoke to all of them, "You'll never be safe. I'm not finished yet. You will all suffer greatly before the end."
He got back on his feet and looked around, expecting the shadow to jump back out at him. When nothing happened, he joined Miranda in helping Miyu to get Fay, who was slowly regaining feeling in her body, to get out of the place. He reached the door before the other two did and helped to shove it open. As Miyu, Fay, and Miranda got out, he paused to wait for Krystal and Saru, carrying the bandaged raccoon out. Serrin and Sabre soon followed, both looking frustrated. John asked, "What happened, did you get her?"
Sabre shook his head, "She's not here. She's not anywhere near here. It's as if she just vanished."
Krystal and Saru had taken Yaru's skycar to go to the hospital, while Serrin and Sabre had left to return to the apartment. So, the quartet decided to pile into Miyu's rental. On their way out of the ruins, John decided to ask, "If Yaru's injured, we can't be sure that his apartment will be safe. Serrin and Sabre said that they were going to go clear it out real quick."
Miyu looked at him, "And you being here… Does that mean you don't think you'll be safe at his apartment?"
He shook his head, "I'm not sure. But I don't have anywhere else to go..."
Miranda piped up, "He can stay with me until Yaru gets better. Yaru's been shot, so someone's gonna start asking questions. That means police at his apartment, asking questions. I know John didn't commit the crime, but I'm sure he'd rather not deal with questions he doesn't want to answer right now."
Miyu glanced at Fay, who was sleeping peacefully in the passenger seat and sighed, "Alright. If John's okay with that."
John nodded after a moment's hesitation, "She makes a good point."
Miranda pulled out her cell-phone, "I need to make a quick call before we do." The other three remained silent as she called, "It's me. Get up. I need the apartment to myself for the next week. ...Look, you can go stay with your girlfriend for a that time, but this is serious. ...Ex-girlfriend? What a shocker. Look, I don't give two shits about your interview at this point, just fucking make sure that you're packed for a week. ...Fine, you can go settle with Zee for that time. It's just one week, it's not like it's your Powerthirst sponsor on the line. However, this is a serious, personal issue that I can't have you barging in on. And there better not be a filming crew when I get there!" She hung up and turned to John, "You can hang out at my place for the rest of the week. I'll see you back to your apartment personally once we know Yaru's out of the hospital and we don't have to worry about someone nosing around."
Miyu had dropped Miranda and John off at his apartment, then left them. John immediately put his hood up and Miranda led the way. They checked in at the front desk, then went on up to her suite. At the door, Miranda stopped him, "I'll go first, make sure that everything's ready."
She opened the door and walked into their apartment. John had a feeling that this was a bit ridiculous to expect an attack here, then he remembered what she had said about a filming crew. He hadn't really gotten around to watching any actual holo-vision here, and for a minute, wondered how a former student had managed to become a celebrity before hearing her say, "Everything checks out. You're clear to come on inside."
Miranda's suite was marginally more simplistic compared to Yaru's. In fact, if it wasn't for a couple details that stuck out every now and again, he would've considered this nothing more than just a regular apartment. He saw Miranda pull off her t-shirt and immediately blushed when she tossed it aside. She turned and saw him staring, before asking, "Mind shutting the door before you stare?" He turned around and shut the apartment door, apologizing before noticing her mischievous grin, "Relax, I'm just messing with ya. Honestly, I would've been more curious if you weren't staring."
This piqued his attention, "Curious?"
"About your sexuality. But, I'm actually more curious about humans. You said that being human was somehow the only thing that made you stand out. Mind if I ask about that?" John had a feeling that he'd be asked to explain the history of humanity a lot for the next few months and mentally resigned to his fate as a broken record. He found a place to sit down and began recounting details about his life and what he had learned of human history, explaining details such as the Great Wars, World Peace Day, Humanity's first encounter with extraterrestrial life and eventual partnership with Cerinia, and then the final days of humanity, the Nanovirus outbreak and the birth of the Aparoid monster.
She sat across from him, leaning forward, taking in everything he said, clearly interested in hearing what he had to say. She was particularly interested when he began describing his relationship with one Cerinian, "So, you actually took one of them as your mate?"
John pursed his lips for a moment. It still hurt to think about, that he'd never see Sondra again, or hear her soothing voice during the long sleepless nights after the plague first came to light, but he knew that at some point, he'd have to move on, "We dated. We had a pretty strong relationship going on, having been together for three years. We were planning to get married at some point, but I guess that's just an old dream of mine now."
Miranda decided to ask, "You said Cerinians had mental powers of a sort. So… what was it like to fuck one?"
John couldn't have blushed harder, "I'm sorry? We never actually had sex. I mean, sure, legal perspective, it was perfectly fine seeing as Cerinians were intelligent beings capable of giving consent and denying propositions, but it was still a bit of a social taboo in several places for a human to even have a relationship with a Cerinian. I'm sure we'd both thought about it at some point, but that's just not something that we ever really did."
After that, he resumed explaining everything that he knew about humanity, or rather, as much as he could. And once that was done, Miranda stood up, walked over to him, and pulled him into a hug, "I understand now… I can't begin to imagine the burden you feel you must carry." She let go of him and pulled her chair closer, sitting down and resting a hand on his shoulder, "I can't say that I can relate to the feeling of losing one's entire race, but I can offer this. You don't have to face that alone. You've got your friends, Serrin and Sabre, and from what you've told me of Cerinian familial customs, they're basically your siblings. Plus, Yaru seemed to like you, so you've got him looking out for ya." She gave him a warm grin, "And, for what it's worth, I'd like to throw in my support as well. I'll watch your back from here on out, but don't go looking for trouble, I can only do so much when you get caught up with Substance D dealers and other underground characters."
John averted his gaze, choosing to stare at the ground, "Yaru got shot. He's in the hospital. Because of me."
Miranda gave him a firm look, "Don't start with that. You didn't shoot him, neither of you were even the target. Besides, Yaru's a strong old man, it'd take a lot more than that to actually kill him. Besides, it was that sadistic bitch that actually pulled the trigger."
John shook his head, "I recognize the flintlock she was using. It belonged to my great grandmother. I don't know how someone like that got a hold of it, but it may as well have been me since I was legally it's last owner."
Saru was sitting in the waiting room when Krystal walked out of the doctor's office. She walked up to him and relayed the news, "They're saying that the bullet didn't hit anything vital, so they should be able to get it out and stitch him back up without a problem."
Saru scooted over, gesturing for her to sit down next to him on the bench. As she sat down, he spoke to her, "I appreciate you helping me get him here on such short notice… But you weren't just here to be a Good Samaritan, were you?"
Krystal pulled out a file from under her cloak, "You were right about my employer. He's not who he claims. This contains everything I've actually found about him. All the fake names, dummy accounts, and everything he's set up. But, despite all that, there is nothing about who he is." Saru opened up the folder and read through it, going over the various leads, impressed that she was able to dig up so much on such short notice. Sure enough, a lot of what she had in the folder correlated with what he already knew, although there was a fair amount she had found that was new to him. He'd have to see how this fit in with the rest of his information. As he went through, Krystal continued, "I do feel that I must apologize. Normally, I don't see a reason to do a background check on my employers. They pay me to do a job and I do it. Of course, he felt that me asking about what you had spoken to me about was enough to terminate my contract. So, I'd like to apologize for nearly killing you, Miyu, and Fay."
Saru glanced at her from the file as she added, "If you don't think I can be forgiven, I won't try to change your mind about that." Seeing her looking down at the floor, ears flat against her head in depression, it reminded him so much of someone else he once knew.
Against his better judgement, he gingerly took her hand in his. She looked up at him as he assured her, "I forgive you. The others may take some time to come around, but I forgive you. Now, it's best that we don't dwell on the past. After all, we'll still need to catch our little mystical assassin and her employer." He set the folder down, releasing her hand. "And, I dunno about you, but I'm all for serving him up a bit of revenge." He held up his other hand and struck it with his fist for emphasis, "How about you?"
She gave a soft chuckle, "I suppose… There is something I must take care of before then, though."
John looked around and realized that he was no longer curled up on Miranda's bed. He was dressed, and currently a passenger in a skytrain, one that was largely empty, save for the driver, whom he couldn't make out the features of. He heard footsteps and looked toward the back of his car to see Krystal walking in, before asking, "May I have this seat?"
He glanced toward the empty seat next to him and nodded. She sat down next to him and asked, "So… Did you really once own the flintlock that shot Yaru?"
John looked around, "This is another mindscape, isn't it?" When she nodded, he returned his gaze to the window, "The flintlock is an archaic design for a pistol, from a time when ships were made of wood and sailed on the water. However, during the Last World War, the flintlock saw something of a revival as a symbol of status among the British armada. That one in particular belonged to my great grandmother, who had joined and made her way through the ranks with ease that she was given her status as general and her own flintlock, a new model known as the Pierre-33, or P-33 for short. Hers was designed with what was probably the first Subspace Aperture ever implemented into a pistol, as it technically held up to seven shots at any given time. When the war ended and we finally reached World Peace, she'd applied for a new license to keep it as a sort of family heirloom, a reminder of everything we lost in exchange for what we gained. When she died, she passed it on to my grandfather, who passed it on to my mother, who gave it to me when I turned 21."
Krystal took note of the details of the pistol in particular, "So, how did it come into the assassin's possession?"
"I don't know. I thought I lost it when the nanovirus outbreak happened. We did kinda flee in a hurry, and I never found it again. Only thing I could think of is that somehow, she was on Earth recently and came across it by coincidence."
They felt the skytrain slow to a stop and Krystal stood up, "This is my stop. Keep safe, John. I'll find that heirloom and return it to you." As she walked toward the door, she paused and turned to glance at John, "And don't worry about Yaru, he's fine." She left the skytrain and the doors shut behind her, the skytrain's route resuming once again. John felt a bit relieved to hear that, and relaxed into his seat as the skytrain faded away and he once again went back to his own little realm of dreams, for once not being plagued by nightmares of the past.
A/N
→ Original Content (QuestForce & associated characters) used with permission. Credit goes to Tobias Umbra.
