"Fox! Fox! Wake up, man!" The voice of Jim Rhodes said as Fox slowly opened his eyes and tasted the silvery taste of blood in his mouth.
As he swallowed, Fox got up and looked around. It was still night and the storm had turned into nothing more than a light rain. Fox shivered a little as Jim Rhodes helped him to his feet.
"What happened man?" Rhodes asked as Fox rubbed his bruised face and aching chest.
"Wolf...Whiplash...robots...came and...beat me. They were...looking for Tony...Stark." Fox said as he tried to shake the pain off. He had felt pain before from many different sources, but this had to be the worst beating he had ever taken.
"What's with the second ship? Is that Wolf's or something?" Rhodes asked pointing to Krystal's Arwing parked next to Fox's.
"Long...story...short...girlfriend came and...tried to rescue...me." Fox said as he managed to shake off some more of the pain and get his vision completely back.
"Girlfriend? What the hell you talkin' about?" Rhodes asked as he kept looking from Fox to the Arwings.
"Where's Tony?" Fox asked.
"I'm here." Tony said coming out from behind Fox's Arwing. "And I've heard everything." He finished.
"What are we going to do, Tony?" Rhodes asked as Fox sat down still trying to shake off the beating.
"Well, as dad always said: Fight fire with fire. I'm going to analyze Fox's Arwing and see if I can make some modifications to my armor." Tony said going back to looking over the interior of the Arwing.
"Wait. How do you know Wolf, Whiplash, and Hammer's robots were modified from Cornerian technology?" Fox asked.
"We saw the robots flying away from the house. They were like nothing we'd ever seen. We thought that was you they had, but now that you mentioned your girlfriend, I suppose not." Rhodes said.
"It was a simple matter of deduction, Fox. By the way they were moving and by the strange way they were designed, we could only guess they were from your neck of the woods." Tony said. "But what about this girlfriend of yours?" Tony asked as he continued to work on the Arwing.
"Krystal's everything to me. If I'd lose her, I don't know what I'd do." Fox said as he breathed heavily and Rhodes gave him an ice pack to put on his face which was starting to swell.
"How much time do we have?" Tony asked as he took some parts from the Arwing and looked them over.
"Wolf said I have to bring you and Iron Man to Hammer Industries before tonight is over or else they'll kill Krystal." Fox said desperately.
"Well then, we don't have much time." Tony said as he took the parts he had unhooked from the interior of the Arwing and walked down into the house.
The hours went on and Fox waited with Rhodes on the main level of the house while they listened to Tony drilling and hammering in the workshop below. Rhodes began to dose off into sleep, but Fox remained wide awake as he thought of Krystal and hoped he wouldn't be too late to save her.
Suddenly, coming up the stairs, Rhodes and Fox were startled by the sound of heavy metallic footsteps. Out of the shadowy basement came the figure of Iron Man, except now his armor showed hints of Cornerian technology and even echoed the blue from Fox's Arwing while still keeping with the classic red.
Fox had to smile a bit when he saw Tony had kept the "Star Fox" logo on his armor.
Tony looked up at his two allies and smiled under his helmet. "Let's kick ass."