I clutched my head, unable to stem the flow of pain I was feeling. I currently found myself in one of the few gaps I got in their strange method of torture, not even sure what they were doing. Not one question had been asked of me, or any interaction with a person for that matter, since the first encounter with what I had assumed was Oikonny. I tried to force my eye's open, seeing the bland steel walls of the cell, not even painted. The bottom floor was a metal grate, as well as the ceiling. There was a bed, but it was nothing more than a metal frame and cross beams, enough to support someone, but as far from comfortable as possible. The front of the cell was simple steel bars, out into an equally bland corridor. A single dim light in the corridor was the only source of light, leaving the cell in almost total darkness. There was no toilet in the cell, just a hole in the grating that I had been using as one, hoping I wouldn't be having to deal with it being in the cell itself. Judging by the smell now filling the room, it wouldn't be long before I would be.
My head suddenly snapped up as the sound of footsteps outside drew my attention. My vision swam in and out, unable to really focus on the bars of the cell or the corridor beyond. A familiar white haired ape appeared in my vision, the same evil grin on his face that he had the first time.
"Hawkins. Will you stand and move to the front of your cell." I felt an urge to do as he asked, but easily shoved it down. This bastard is the reason Mira is dead, no way in hell am I doing anything he wants.
"Fuck you." He seemed to smirk, but I wasn't entirely sure, unable to really see clearly.
"Now that isn't polite of you to say. Stand, and move to the front of the cell." I angrily rammed myself onto my feet, nearly knocking myself over with the movement, before moving to the front of the cell, glaring at him. "Come now, you don't have to look so angry. I only want to talk!" the ape held his arms out in a very welcoming way, his fingers spread wide. Wait, fingers? Oikonny has cybernetic limbs. The thought hit me like a cannon, managing to pierce through the painful fog that was filling my mind.
"I know who you are….." my voice was quiet, barely audible in fact.
"What was that, I couldn't hear you. Speak up." I just silently glared at the aged ape, trying to think of a way to escape with a renewed sort of energy. I nearly missed what he said next, my mind too focused on ways to get out. "Fine go back to your cot and sit down." Instead of doing what he told, I lunged forward, reaching through the bars to try and grab him. He merely took a half step back, just far enough for my finger tips to brush his clothing. "Hmm, I thought we were making progress. I guess not." With that casual statement, and a single touch of his wrist computer, I was writhing on the floor again, unable to think at all as images flashed through my mind.
Derrick fingered the small engraved marks across the anti-material rifle shouldered against him, barely paying attention to the scope as he should be. I cant believe Cole is gone. He sighed, looking down the scope again and returning to scanning the environment. It was a bleak landscape, almost all just brown dirt and rocks, with the exception of a single small freight ship landed almost a kilometer away from him. Sheila had noticed the ship a few days prior, seeing the ship land, and postponing their search for the Star Fox team. With Cole being gone, he was the only one with the skills to sneak close enough to get a good view of the vessel, and the only one capable of adequately using the massive weapon now resting on it's bipod in front of him. Cole had been a trained sniper in the CDF for years before he quit, eventually joining up with Derrick and Sabrina.
"Anything yet Derrick?" he sighed as his radio cracked to life in his ear, quickly keying the mic before speaking.
"No Sheila, nothing yet. It's just sitting out there still." The ship in question was a simple disk shaped craft, with two large cylindrical engines attached to the sides of the vessel, it's cockpit being no more than a curved rectangular viewport at the front of the craft. There was a boarding ramp at the back of the ship that also doubled as a cargo loader, able to be lowered completely to the ground, cargo be placed on it, then raised into the hold. And although it was small as far as freighter craft went, it wasn't a small vessel, the interior being two stories tall, the ship being nearly sixty meters in diameter. Another sigh slipped out of his mouth, staring at the rear end of the ship and hoping something would happen. Sheila and Sabrina were both about a hundred meters behind him with the groups small off road vehicle, having been able to return to society and get food and showers over the past few days, where he had been living off jerky and the occasional scraps they brought him. As such, he found himself respecting what Cole used to do all the more. The man would go out entirely on his own for weeks at a time to scope out the target, carrying enough rations with him, and scavenging water from the area usually, or finding a way to bring his own.
Suddenly, movement in his scope snapped Derrick back to the craft, the ramp lowering down to let a pair of individuals off the vessel. They had a crate slung between them, walking a short distance away from the ship before dropping the crate in the dirt. As soon as they had, they went back into the ship, coming out a minute or so later with another. Both men were wearing dusty brown cloaks, common out in the wastes of mecbeth, masks covering their faces due to the lack of breathable air, making it near impossible to distinguish anything about them.
"Got movement Sheila, their off loading crates, roughly eight by two by two. Look like ammo or weapons crates to me. But I could be wrong. recommend we take a closer look." There was a few seconds before Sheila responded, with nothing but the removing of more crates to hold his attention.
"Okay. Sabrina and I are gonna move closer, try to interact with them if we can. Keep us covered." He acknowledged and settled in behind the scope again, counting the crates the two people were unloading. So far, they had removed seven crates, all neatly stacked up a few feet from the ship. It took a few minutes for Sabrina and Sheila to work their way in front of him, tracking the two of them. Sabrina was wearing a simple brown leather poncho, only really covering her upper body from the dusty area, Sheila wearing a jacket and had wrapped her head in cloth. Both were wearing simple clear oxygen masks, almost like large muzzles.
Derrick quickly bounced his attention back to the ship, noticing that the two people had finished unloading crates, and were now just chatting, leaning on the pile of crates. They seemed to stay that way as Sabrina and Sheila seemed to crawl the distance between him and them, using the natural hills to stay out of sight of the ship. After the better part of half an hour, the two ship soldiers shifting around a little and nothing more, Sheila and Sabrina finally made their move, Sabrina rushing forward with her shotgun out and raised, aimed at the two of them, Sheila aiming Cole's carbine. He knew the two of them were likely shouting at them, but there was no way he could tell what was being said from here. The two crew members both had their hands up, both clearly surrendering.
Fox slipped up to the smaller side door on the large warehouse in front of him, stacking up beside it as Will and the other humans had taught him. Katt, Panther, and Wolf all stacked up behind him, ready to breach the door. The files they had obtained had led them to several large warehouses storing weapons and equipment ready to be shipped off to venoms armies, wherever they were hiding. Security was supposed to be light, the human team having already cleared the exterior of the building, and were now pulling security on all of the approaches. Meanwhile, Star Wolf and Star Fox were preparing to enter the building simultaneously from every entrance they could, Falco and Leon trying to cover the exits with sniper rifles. It wasnt a bulletproof plan, but given their very limited resources, it was what they could muster. Fox took a deep breath, keeping his weapon focused on the door beside him, careful to not stick the weapon so far that it would be easily visible should the door fly open. Wolf slipped past him, to the far side of the door where the switch was located. A small nod from Fox caused Wolf to slam is fist on the switch, the door flashing open.
The second the door was open, Fox was darting in, button hooking around the corner and clearing the near corner first. He heard blaster shots as his weapon traversed to the far corner, his eyes seeing the small defensive ring of crates in the center of the room, too few to be a major weapons cache. In an instant, he was charging forward, those crates being the only cover in the room. The second one of the pistol armed techs would pop up, he would fire off a quick burst, either forcing them back into cover, or dropping them. The second he reached the crates, he stepped up on some of the small crates, using them to quickly get on top of a container, the advantageous position letting himself and Wolf, who seemed to have followed him, to quickly silence the enemies. There were only half a dozen at most, even lighter security than they had been expecting. Fox cursed to himself as both he and Wolf dropped down, one of the armed workers still alive, trying to crawl away from them, and leaving a trail of blood behind him. Wolf aggressively yanked him onto his back, the canine yelping as wolf did so.
"Tell, me, where is the weapons cache that's supposed to be here, and I'll promise you a quick death. Otherwise, I will make it as long and painful as possible." He was snarling as he spoke in a dark tone, not for the first time unsettling Fox. The man was whimpering on the floor, blood soaking his gut from the blaster wound there. Fox sighed and gently pulled Wolf back, speaking in an almost bored fashion.
"Wolf, let me handle this. Look kid, you look no older than twenty or so, and I doubt you want to die. We have a medic, you want to live, give us something worth our time, and you get a whole hell of a lot of time to rethink your life choices." The man gulped, the rest of the breaching team slowly circling them.
"I-I don't k-know." Fox shrugged, standing and about to gesture to Wolf to continue with his way when the man spoke again. "Th-hey came an-d moved almost all o-of it yesterday. I don't know where, I w-ork here, no-no where else!" Fox nodded, speaking into the mike on his HUD rig.
"Ramirez, send in your medic. No rush, just, when it's convenient." The man started to panic, Fox mentally cursing himself, knowing he was breaking more than one decency law in regards to warfare.
"Th-they mentioned a shi-shipyard! Said their ship was about to l-leave. Th-that's what the rush was for!" Fox nodded, keying his mic on again.
"On second thought, make it quick. Time yesterday." He heard them acknowledge and stepped away, Wolf stepping away with him, smirking.
"So there is a dark side to the great Fox McCloud." Fox glared at Wolf, earning a small chuckle from the expression. "Well, you got something outta the kid. I can respect that. Still, woulda loved putting the screws to him." Fox sighed, stopping and facing wolf right after.
"How the hell did you and Will ever get along?" he shrugged, still smirking.
"No fucking clue. Must got himself a more twisted sense of humor than he lets on. Speaking of, any word on him yet?" Fox shook his head, thinking back to a recent call he had from Krystal.
"No. but at least Mira is still on the mends. God, I pity her. Apoptosis poisoning is brutal. Got some from a piece of shrapnel after the Lylat war. Couldn't even get out of bed for a couple weeks after, took damn near a month to stop showing symptoms." Wolf chuckled, gently elbowing the much smaller vulpine.
"Nah, it put you down for so long cause you're just a pussie, pup." Fox glared at him again, barely noticing that the human team was now inside, going through the bodies and the area for intel they might find.
"I told you to stop calling me that."
"What, Pussie?" Fox groaned, knowing where this was going, but to stubborn to give up.
"No, Pup. Why the fuck to you call me that anyway?" Wolf just laughed, quickly deflecting the question.
"Oh, so you are a pussie! Okay pup!" Fox just groaned and moved toward the small office shack, hoping to at least find something of use within. After several minutes of searching empty filing cabinets and a fruitless search of the one computer for any relevant data, Wolf's voice suddenly shattered the silence in the small room. "I call you Pup because you remind me of my younger brother, and that's what I used to call him." Fox looked up in surprise, shocked at the pained expression on the lupines face.
"Used too?" he nodded, gesturing toward the Star Fox emblem on Fox's jacket.
"Why do you think I had it in for Star Fox for so long, and why I founded Star Wolf. Your father is the reason he's gone." Before Fox could say anything, Wolf suddenly turned and left the small office, leaving Fox stunned, unable to stop the torrent of thoughts ripping through his head.
Sheila gave Sabrina a small nod, the two of them launching forward like a pair of missiles. Sabrina was much faster than Sheila, closing the distance between them and the two ship mates in almost half the time it took Sheila. By the time Sheila had reached her, she already had her stockless shotgun trained on the two people, yelling at them to put their hands up. Sheila kept her own weapon trained on them, one of them shouting back.
"Whoa, whoa, hey, no need for violence here guys, calm it down!" the larger of the two was the one speaking, somehow sounding calm even though he should be panicking right now. Sheila was instantly barking back, leaving her weapon leveled on his chest.
"Who the fuck are you, what the fuck are you doing here, and what the fuck are in the crates!?" he seemed completely unfazed by her harsh language and tone.
"Alright, alright, calm it down there lady. My name is Louis Bickell, or just Lou. We are delivering supplies, weapons, meds, food, primarily meds and food. Senator Reeves hired us, he's a good friend of the captain here." Sheila instantly snapped back, not noticing the movement in the corner of her eye, out in the sand.
"Bullshit, you wouldn't be landing out here in the wastes if it was just ordinary supplies!" he was clearly trying to stay calm, slowly losing his ability to do so.
"We are, look, I just got discharged from the military, look in the crates, you'll find what I said in there! We are not hostile!" before Sheila could respond, her radio burst to life, nearly causing her to jump out of her skin.
"You got company, and to be frank, it don't look friendly. Three light vehicles, two with mounted guns, at least twelve, all armed." Sheila double keyed her radio, sending a pair of clicks through the comm line as a sort of response. "Should be on your left." She started to shift that way around the crates, keeping them trained in her sights.
"Don't move an inch!" she kept her voice angry as she continued to move, seeing the dust being kicked up, realizing the vehicles were much closer than she thought they would be. Suddenly, the lead truck's mounted SAW started firing, the red bolts dropping the shorter of the two ship mates, the other diving for the deck.
"Biggs! Fuck! What the hell!" Sheila dived behind the crates, firing back at them as they skidded to a stop, less than a hundred meters from them. All but two of the armored soldiers leapt out of the vehicles, using what little frame was on the vehicles as cover as the two mounted guns kept firing, leaving black burns all over the ship and crates. The burly ship mate had managed to crawl over to the same side as Sheila, leaning up against the stacked crates with a pistol drawn. "Friends of yours?" She grunted as she popped up, firing a burst. Sabrina beside her had dropped her shotgun, using her dual pistols to try and suppress the gunners, but to no avail. The two of them did manage to drop a pair of the soldiers though.
"I was about to ask you the same thing! Fuck, Derrick, a little help here!" she peaked up as one of the gunner's heads exploded, a brilliant yellow lance ripping through with an incredible crack. A second or so later, a second ripped past, ramming through the second gunner's chest. Meanwhile, the enemy soldiers had used them being pinned as a chance to close the distance, mere meters from them. An action that proved to be a mistake, leaving them with no cover as Sheila and Sabrina opened fire, Lou joining them. Several of the troopers dropped, but they were forced back down as a shot grazed Sheila's arm. "Ahh, fuck!" she dropped to the dirt, hearing a strange sound, almost like a plasma rifle discharging, but a steady hum following it. her eyes flicked over to Sabrina as the feline darted out, a pistol in one hand, and a blue beam of plasma arcing from the other. She was too fast for the soldiers to track, slashing one across the chest and shooting another almost simultaneously, giving Sheila a chance to fire again. Her short burst, along with another anti-material round and shots from Lou, dropped the last of the small assault squad, Sheila panting from a mix of pain and adrenaline.