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[] Arc 2 []
Separating Bad Courtesy
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Chapter 11
Tactical Nuke by the Acacia Strain but Every Time the Tempo Drops Remi Complains
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A/N: Listen... I don't wanna talk about how long this took me. TL;DR - horrible writers block and a very bad case of broken confidence. I had a tough time writing anything for months. Hopefully this marks the start of that being turned around. Thank you for your patience, and I hope everyone enjoys this chapter. :)
-Sheppard
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The armory sat on the other side of the tiny worker's town's residence hall which had been obstructed from Fox's view when he looked around the first time. Inside said building was a hangar bay outfitted with numerous vehicles equipped to conquer the harsh terrain outside, and a locker room that held most of the fun toys the Star Fox team got to play with.
Fox and company arrived just as Skae and her task force finished up. All four wore a sort of heather gray full-body snowsuit, a darker vest overtop, a near white helmet with tinted goggles resting atop them, and the same canine teeth insignia branded on their facemasks. As for their kits, it became apparent that they were preparing for war.
Skae was outfitted with a presumably automatic rifle and a weapon that looked like a combination of a grenade launcher and a bullpup which Fox honestly didn't know what it did. All he knew was that he didn't want to be on the receiving end of it. The huge timber wolf Six donned two similar auto rifles—one of which was smaller than the other—as well as a comedically large sledgehammer strapped across his back. The avian Five held a small carbine, a handgun or two strapped to his legs, and a shield about twice his width hanging from his back as if he were imitating a turtle. Seven the arctic fox held a small submachine gun in one hand, with a backpack nearly overflowing with gear. Remotes, devices, and other electronic equipment dotted the vulpine's vest as if he were a traveling Video Shed. Don't talk to me about my Lylatian knock-off brands.
"Hold up," Falco's beak slithered atop Fox's shoulder. "We're about to witness the drop of the most fire mixtape in decades."
"Falco I swear to—"
"Multi-Platinum certification inbound."
"Falco…"
"How many endorsements do you think they'll—"
"Okay, that's enough," Fox shoved his beak away and stepped forward towards Skae, who gestured to the shelves and cases around them.
"Hope you're ready for a fight," Skae smiled weakly once she pulled her mask down.
"I'd rather it not be," Fox commented.
"He's in the minority," Falco jumped in. "Bring on the fight!" Fox pushed his beak away yet again.
"I don't want it to be a fight either," Skae breathed. "Those are our men out there. But, we're prepared for a fight if it comes down to it."
The wolfess stepped away from her team, revealing an arms rack with dozens of kinetic rifles long to have thought to be outdated and obsolete. "Your team can take anything here. Just be sure not to take too much that you can't carry halfway down. It'll be a long journey."
Falco and Remi needed no second invitation. As soon as Skae and her team exited, two of the three blue members bolted towards the arsenal and shopped around the selection.
"Hey Fox, check this one out," said Remi, pulling a rifle off the rack and pointing it at the vulpine, who immediately blew his eyes out of their sockets and dropped flat on the floor as if his bones vaporized. Remi just yipped, "Heck's sake, it's not even loaded!"
"I wouldn't even trust you with a water gun," Fox spoke into the floor. Falco rolled his eyes and grabbed Fox by the scruff of his neck, yanking him to his feet. The vulpine brushed himself off and let his team get first dibs on the weaponry.
"All of these are kinda heavy," Remi remarked, setting the murder weapon back on its hook.
"Well when you weigh less than my normal lunch, anything can seem heavy," Falco chirped.
Fara's head cocked. "What's gotten into you?" she asked rather honestly, though it did come off as snooty and disgusted.
"He's just excited," Fox replied, tone and expression not matching up with one another. "He gets this way whenever he smells a battle." Falco appeared ready to defend his case but a damming glare from the vulpine silenced him.
"Oh," Fara breathed. "Typical. Shouldn't have expected anything else."
"I'm fine, thank you," Falco almost scoffed but held it back to prevent escalation, citing Fox's intense stare. "Let's go guys, we have places to be." Fox took note of Falco's attempted leadership and shoved it in the back of his mind, but in the meantime just nodded and went on with gearing up.
As Skae said, Fox and company kept light with their gear; not taking more than they could carry but still making sure they weren't underequipped. It was a little odd seeing Remi and Krystal don the dark tactical gear, but was oddly captivating at the same time. What little blue fur stayed unconcealed by the thermal gear popped against the heather gear. Their piercing irises held a lifetime of experiences Fox could only imagine for himself, up until he caught those irises staring back at him.
Remi jumped on the opportunity. "Like what you see?" she purred, pulling down her facemask to lick her chops.
Fox opened his mouth to respond, but a fennec butted in front of him. "I'd appreciate you not saying things like that to my boyfriend."
Remi audibly laughed. "I don't give a heck that he's your boyfriend; anyone that good looking is fair game."
Fara huffed. "Okay, let me rephrase: Don't say things like that to my boyfriend."
Remi's shoulders slumped. "Oh come on; he's such a stud though."
"I can't say you're wrong, but that…" Fara's eyes narrowed. "Wait… how do you know that?"
Fox slowly and stealthily backed away, almost silently murmuring, "Ohh, I'm uncomfortable…"
The Cerinian just blinked a few times. "Just look at him," she pointed to the auburn vulpine, stopping him dead in his tracks. "He's a hunk."
Fara frowned as she looked back at Fox, who just gave her an admittedly nervous smile. She shook her head. "Yeah, he is. But that doesn't justify you hitting on him. He's mine, got it?"
Remi just giggled and shrugged. "I dunno about that," she cooed, laughing as she picked up her weapon and skipped out of the armory. Fox's eyes never left the gun in her hands.
"Creep," Fara grunted, wiping the disgust off her face as she turned to Fox. "Whatever. Soon as we do our job here, the sooner we can dump that weirdo and get back to business."
Fox just absently nodded his head along.
Krystal, meanwhile, escaped the tense engagement and met back up with Falco and Skae's team. They were greeted with a garage full of sleek vehicles equipped with bright headlights and dense treads that look like they could cross an ocean if they were given the chance.
"Luckily we have enough," Skae finished her statement. "I don't mind who drives, just so long as you can keep up with me. I want to be in and out as quick as you guys do, so I won't be wasting time."
Krystal wandered up to Falco and brushed against him. The avian took the indication and let out a humorous sharp exhale. "You just want an excuse to hug," he chuckled.
The vixen said a quick thank you to whoever told her to keep her face covered up, otherwise Falco would see how bad her face was burning up. Nevertheless, she stayed silent and just nodded along.
"Well good. Better than havin' the other blue one behind me gropin' me."
Krystal giggled. "I won't do that," she assured lightheartedly.
Falco just laughed along. "Here, hold still for a sec," He gingerly turned the vixen to face him so that he could adjust her gear for her. It wasn't anything bad, just a gentle readjustment of the mask along her muzzle and the protective headgear over her ears. "There. Feel a little better."
"Yeah," she answered softly. "Thank you."
"Anytime, blueness," the avian replied.
Skae took a few awkward steps into frame. "I hate to break up the moment, but I need to do a scene change."
"Huh?" Falco's curious noise answered. "A what?"
"A scene change," the wolfess repeated. "We gotta get going, so to make it a little easier I was just gonna skip ahead a little bit. That fine with you guys?"
Falco glanced at Krystal, then shrugged. "Sure."
Ξ
A bitterly cold wonderland encapsulated by perpetual twilight, nearly obscured with blowing snow and overcast… Yeah, this scene would be much more breathtaking had the stakes not been so dire. Tension hung over the air as thick as the storm of flurries enveloping their convoy as they barreled through the snowy terrain; an end goal in sight but the means of how to get there still up in the air.
Astronomers often hypothesized that Fichina was a lost comet captured by Lylat before life flourished in the system. A very large, very uniform comet. Or maybe a lost moon? Either way, it's icy composition and rocky terrain only seemed to back up this claim. But, to disprove it, Fichina assimilated with a normal orbit almost effortlessly had it been a captured comet or otherwise; and its atmosphere—while normal with a celestial being as massive as it is and with its relative proximity to Lylat—matched that of most other Lylatian planets. Still, while shrouded in arguments of its validity, Fichina undeniably had one thing.
Water.
Water which was frozen and powdered all over cliffs and jagged passes made of more frozen water. See, water is what usually brings life, but here, water was used in every sort of state to kill anyone who tried to get in its way. Frozen water moved and molded this terrain for that distinct purpose: to act as a gauntlet for those brave to travel through it. In some places, more ice built up like hills, eventually peaking as mountains due to more water churning and cracking the land. Think of a desert of snow, with rivers of ice carving scratches across the snowball as if the ice was clawing and reaching for help. Even the ice didn't want to live on this Lylatian mystery ball.
Canyons and trenches deep and shallow scarred the icy terrain, cutting gashes between mountains and cliffs. In these topless caverns, the wind ripped through the pathways; acting as lifeblood to the arteries of an otherwise lifeless planet. Wind so powerful and volatile even the walls of the canyons buckled and molded to its will. There was a distinct difference between the trenches that has been formed long ago, and the more recent ones that form when the mountains of ice become too large and start to split apart from one another. Older paths were wide and not as dangerous to travel through, while the newer ones burst with that windy lifeblood ripping the rest of the pathway open like a fresh wound.
While the planet remained rather dark because of its lack of proximity to the rest of the system, what light did reach the surface of the planet and amplified off of the snow and ice to make it seem like the ice had a glow to it. An alluring, mesmerizing glow that proved to be the only way of distinguishing the terrain on a normal day; the glow acting as a sort of runway lights to guide the plane to safety. The only way to find out if you were about to careen off a cliff into another ancient scar on the rogue comet's surface was if that glow seemed to fade or dissipate in any way; whether it be from the blowing snow towards the surface that obscured the glow more often than not, or the drastic altitude change that altered the intensity of that guiding light.
Long story short, Fichina was not fun. Fox came to that conclusion faster than the astronomers still trying to figure out what this cold wasteland should be classified under. Even when wearing the top-of-the-line thermal gear to keep every little bit of him as warm as possible, the Fichinian climate cut through his gear and made him shiver in his boots. Long gone were the days of the Papetoonian desert or the tropical Aquan getaways. This was war against the elements. See, when even the planet is actively fighting itself because of how tough the climate is, imagine how rough it is for people who want to explore.
Fox had to admire how deceptively deadly everything appeared. Well, admiration in a sort of photogenic way. The flurries turned into streaks of hyperspace in his visor, whizzing by in a blur on the back of snowmobiles that cut through snow like butter. The creases and textures of the cliff faces on either side of him blurred into a hangar wall like scene; just him and his team running down the corridors to get to their Arwings again. Even while his visor dulled everything and tinted it a sickly shade of orange, the vulpine still eyed his surroundings. Distant mountains poking above the deep caverns melded together with closer ones in the way that hand-drawn movies simulate a great distance when moving on a train. The snow added depth to the artwork in the form of a thick mist enveloping most of said distant mountains so that all that was visible was the snow-covered peaks. They were almost as common as trees; a forest of mountains big and small off in the distance, glowing at varying intensities.
The elevation changed erratically as their journey continued. Often times the vehicles would be scaling a hill only for it to steeply drop off into a valley; rinse and repeat. Skae, a master of navigation around these parts, lead the way as she cut around rock formations and the occasional frozen foliage, almost always staying within the boundaries of the comet's scars. Fox, Falco, Five, and Six piloted their crafts behind her, with Fara, Krystal, Remi, and Seven riding with their respective pilots.
Skae stared to slow down after a little while, and a little while longer she came to a stop, with the other drivers following suit. The wolfess turned her vehicle off and stepped off, prompting the rest of the team to follow suit.
"This is where we need to walk it," Skae began, glancing up at the bowl of rocks and cliffs enveloping their space. There was a breakoff between a bunch of wide and narrow caverns alike; each one whistling loudly as the bitter wind barreled through. She looked at one of them, distinguished with a rather large gash on the right side of the opening; obviously a manmade marking. "Follow me."
"Heck, we're not there yet?" Remi huffed. "I'm cold. And my tail doesn't like being bundled up."
"Hey, would you rather lose it or deal with discomfort?" Skae asked.
Remi answered, "I mean, I'm already dealing with discomfort, so I guess I'll stay at that."
"Good," Skae would have smiled but her gear obstructed it.
The snow around here was very packed down and dense, so walking on it felt like walking in a grassy yard or on rubber. The bitter wind whipped drifts of snow like snakes beneath the icy surface, pointed directly where they needed to go according to Skae. The couldn't be quick on their feet, but it certainly wasn't navigating through ten feet of snow like how their ancestors used to commute to school on a normal winter day. Heyo!
The spring in Remi's step began to sulk as time went on. "Listen, I like cold weather as much as the next guy… but this is stupid."
"Agreed," Fara added.
"And it says a lot when Big Ears and I agree on something."
"I'm sorry, what?"
Remi laughed. "That's ironic."
"Okay, let's put a stop to that," Fox interjected.
Remi sighed. "Sorry, I'm just cold."
"We all are," Falco chirped.
"But it's not that far away," Fox insisted. "In the meantime, we need to stay focused and—"
"But I'm really cold," Remi interjected.
Fox breathed, "I know," exasperated by the current situation.
"And I'm hungry."
"I know."
"And this gun is heavy."
"I—"
"So who would want to live here anyway?"
Skae spun around and started to walk backwards. "It's not ideal," she started off optimistically. She would have been smiling had the protective gear not obscured it. "Fichina is actually a great water exporter. The ice here is clean, and Corneria uses it for drinking water instead of trying to clean their water there."
Remi shrugged her head. "Smart."
"Debatable," Skae rebuked. "But understandable. It's a lucrative industry so people hire mercs like myself and my team to protect this place; y'know, keep the power plant going, protect shuttles, that sort of thing. Plus, living here has its benefits. Nonexistent taxes being one, but the cost of living is a little high so it's almost a one-to-one trade-off."
"Fox, I'm being bored by economics," Remi groaned over her shoulder.
"Hey, I gotta talk about something," Skae emphasized. "We're still a while from the base."
"We can talk about how little I got to eat," grumbled an irritated Remi. "Do you realize how many calories I need to take in to be able to function right?"
"Can't be any worse than the rest of us," commented Six, gruff voice refusing to be muffled by his facemask.
"You'd be mistaken," the young vixen continued. "My body burns through energy so that my skills can stay sharp. I hope you guys planned on me not being one hundred percent if that's all the food I get for today."
Falco then chirped, "Y'know, Slippy never complained as much as you do."
"He probably eats as much as I normally do so he'd be whining with me."
Skae cleared her throat. "Can we put a pause on this? We gotta change scenes really quick."
Remi huffed. "Fine."
Ξ
They approached a rather steep cliff in their trek, one that looked dangerous to traverse. It almost looked like a few terrain scars converged on the same point, creating a deeper gash within their current pathway. Even so, with no viable alternative, Skae started her descent. Her boots let her gingerly climb down the incline without losing her footing, while an open hand dragged along the side of the cliff to keep her from going too fast. And, being as she's probably done this a dozen times over, she learned to get good at this sort of thing. Fox, Falco, and the others had to resort to clipping tethers to the side of the trench and slide down that way.
While the girls waited for their turn, the white avian Five walked behind them and gave them all a nudge. "C'mere," he urged, tugging on Krystal's sleeve. Fara and Remi followed the soldier as he stepped away from the descending point. Peering down the steep incline, Five set down his shield and pushed it into the snow a little bit, packing the snow down around it. He stepped around to the front of his shield, sat down, crossed his legs, and would have smiled had his mask not gotten in the way. He craned his head over to the three. "Get on and hold on."
"Are we going sledding?" Fara asked excitedly.
"Captain Rhen never said to not have fun; she just said to follow our rules," Five shrugged, holding out an arm. Fara slipped in behind him, snaking her arms around his waist in preparation. "Scared, you two?"
"Heck no," Remi shook her head as she slotted up next to them. Krystal slipped into the available space on Five's shield as they all clung onto one another. Five forced the shield more and more towards the point of no return until they plunged down the hill, kicking up a literal tidal wave of snow as the makeshift sled barreled down the incline.
Falco audibly scoffed. "Ey, that ain't fair!"
The four of them were laughing by the time they got down to the bottom of the hill, making even more headway because of their momentum. They had to wait for Skae and the rest of the team to catch up to them before they resumed their walk.
"I knew that shield had another use," Remi yipped from within the convoy.
"Yeah, because deflecting lethal projectiles was an optional intention," Fox chimed in.
Remi turned a covered, expressionless shell known as her face back at the vulpine. "Hey, I heard that."
"Just trying to crack a joke," defended Fox.
"I hate to kill your jokes," interrupted Skae. "But we gotta change scenes again. Hold that thought."
"Alright," Fox nodded.
Ξ
Remi slowed down and began to look around. The incline of the trench seemed steeper and higher up, meaning they were in a particularly deep artery on the planet. Still, the vixen's curiosity amplified her senses. The glow in the snow seemed to be getting brighter, since the overcast above was starting to lighten up. She could feel the magnetic field of the planet grow stronger and stronger with each step forward.
"We're close," Skae seemed to take the words right out of the Cerinian's mouth.
"I can feel it," Remi added, gloved fingers reaching out to touch the scarred, icy walls. "Thank the gods."
Skae suddenly stopped in her tracks and looked to her right. "Here," she said, twisting her foot to walk over to the wall of the cliff. There was another walkway carved into the ice, sharply sloping upwards towards the top of the trench. Skae began to climb the hill, urging the rest of them to follow.
"Oh great, a shortcut," Remi breathed. "Why don't you just change scenes so that we're there?"
"Keep your voice down," urged Six.
Once they cleared the crest of the hill, a harsh cliff stopped them in their tracks. The cliff fell into a basin where an explosion of light enveloped the sky above a giant obelisk jutting from the center of a hexagonal base. Two entry gates signified by tall protrusions from the perimeter were visibly damaged, even from the distance they were at. Opaque smoke rolled from the far entry point, which dissipated almost instantly upon hitting the cold air. The lights around the base were eerily dark, as if the place hadn't been activated yet. In fact, the base looked as though it was just… closed for the night.
Captivating the attention of the team were the magnetic lights above the base. Greens, reds, and blues danced in the black sky above the obelisk, swirling and waving as if the harsh winds were blowing them around. The overcast blanket above created a portal to the heavens above the base, acting as a sort of boundary for these lights to dance within. The northern lights here were far brighter than anything seen on Corneria, which Fox could attest to. He was simply mesmerized by the intensity and beauty of these lights which were seemingly being swallowed by the tip of the piercing obelisk.
"The Geothermal Center," Skae breathed. "Technology harnessing the power of the magnetic field to warm the entire planet and keep it habitable. These lights are some of the most intense magnetic lights in the galaxy…"
The waves of color seemed to acknowledge Skae's comment and intensify, spiraling from the obelisk and releasing another wave of fierce color. This time a deep red glow dominated, casting a translucent crimson shadow atop the glow of the white snow. Krystal stared in total awe, unsure what to make of this phenomenon but understanding its acute beauty and scope. She's never seen anything like this. Nothing this vibrant and exceptional.
"Admire it for now," Skae remarked as the lights returned to a green-dominant hue. "If they turn that machine off, this planet could freeze over in an instant. We need to get to the Power Plant before they destroy it."
Skae led her team along with Star Fox to the right of the overlooking cliff to continue the journey. Krystal, however, didn't want to take her eyes off the lights. There was something so captivating about them… like the lights wanted to speak but didn't know how. So vibrant and so volatile, they were.
"Krys?"
The vixen turned to see Falco.
"You okay?"
"Oh… yeah," she replied. "Sorry, I just… they're so beautiful."
Falco looked over at the lights for another moment or two. "Eh…" he shrugged his shoulders. "I've seen somethin' better."
"Something better that that?" she pointed at the lights as Falco walked past her. She started walking to catch up with him while keeping her attention on the lights. She nudged him in the back to get his attention again. "Come on, you can't be serious."
"I mean, it's nice and all," Falco shrugged again. "Not the best."
"What's the best then?"
"I ain't tellin'," the bird grunted.
"You've got to tell me," insisted Krystal.
"After this mission, okay?"
"Deal."
Falco nodded and continued his walk. Krystal trailed behind him to stay out of the wind, staying within an arm's reach of his overcoat just in case. Still, her focus remained on the lights as she idly stepped in line with the convoy.
The basin the base was situated within appeared to be the result of a meteor strike long ago, evident with even more fractured canyons stemming from the crater like rivers flowing out of a mountain spring. One particularly massive canyon spanned outwards in the direction Skae took the team. This canyon was almost as wide and as deep as the crater, implying there was another strike not too far away from it that simply created a fissure in the rock. This claim was backed up as Krystal peered into the canyon to see a much darker rock formation at the bottom that didn't want to collect any snowfall.
As a matter of fact, the elements didn't seem as harsh up towards the northernmost point of the planet. The wind, while still bitterly cold, did not threaten to take anyone off their feet. The snowfall was only blankets of flakes blown off of nearby hills and cliffs; nothing new. However, the temperature was decidedly colder despite the wind not assisting it.
There was a rather straightforward and simple pathway that ran alongside the ridge of the massive fissure. The ridge itself kicked up a bit and acted as a bit of a guardrail along the canyon, while the ripples of the fissure kicked up a rather steep mountain on the other side. While it wasn't necessarily another one of Fichina's scars, it did serve the purpose as the others did in getting the team to where they needed to be.
"This wind is killing me," Remi remarked. "How close are we?"
"The Power Plant is close to the Geothermal Center," Skae replied.
"How close? What's the scale of close in this situation?"
"Close," Skae reiterated.
"That doesn't help me."
"It wasn't supposed to."
"Can't you just do another scene change to put us down there?"
Skae paused. "Hey, that's not a bad idea."
Ξ
Fox and Skae both stopped a bit before the entrance. Much like the Control Center earlier, the Fichinian Power Plant's hexagonal shape was it's most prominent feature. The structure sat low to the ground, maybe only one or two stories tall, but it made up for it in sheer surface area as it almost completely encased the basin it resided in. From the top of the cliff, the base clearly had massive vents atop its roof; steam and smoke pouring out of them only to dissipate in the cold wind. The dark steel had a frozen texture aside from non-uniform circles encasing the vents on top. Clearly Cornerian engineering and construction, but it felt foreign seeing it in such a location.
Skae and her team drew their supplies, with Seven stepping ahead with a device in his hands; a rotary drone with a few sensors and a camera attached. He set it down and backed away, letting the drone spring into the air and buzz around with the fox controlling it.
"Okay," Skae started, inching closer to the steel entrance. "Fox, Falco, Fara, and Six will break off as one unit. Krystal, Five, and Seven will go as another. Remi, you're with me. I want Six's team to go up the front and into the generator room in the center. Five's group will infiltrate the side and into the control room. Remi will come with me to see if we can locate the Cerinian. Clear?"
Fox blinked. "That was… infinitely quicker than any briefing and strategy call I've ever been a part of."
Skae giggled as she pulled her mask and goggles away. "I don't wanna waste any time getting this job done. Seven; if you can, turn the generators on as soon as possible. If something is wrong, tell Fox or anyone in that team and they'll try to help. Remi and I can and will help anyone if it's an emergency. All clear?"
Everyone nodded in affirmation.
Falco gave Fox a nudge. "Partners again, I take it."
"My favorite," Fox chuckled back.
"It's my dream to be with a bunch of brutes," Fara flicked her head around. "At least I know where the fun will be."
Skae smiled, then nodded at Remi. "You're with me. I know a place where we get in. You can lead me?"
"Chances are they already know we're here," Remi admitted. "They can feel our presence just as much as I can feel theirs. I can lead you to where they are, but it's best to get the power back online first."
Skae nodded again. "Okay. Follow me." Those two ran off to the right side, disappearing around the corner.
Five removed the shield from his back. "Alright girls, you're with me. Stay close, alright?"
Seven pulled his goggles up to give a confused look at the white avian.
"Yeah I know what I said," added Five.
"So what's the shield do?" asked Fara.
Five pulled it up by his arm. "Deflects shots and keeps us safe. Plus I can take pictures." Without warning, a panel on the top of the shield opened and instantly flashed, causing Krystal and Fara to stumble backwards with hands over their faces. "Oh, yeah, probably not a good idea."
Fox growled. "Can you not flash my girlfriend?"
"My apologies."
Seven put away his controller. "There's an open ventilation shaft around the back," he said sternly. "We should go."
"Hey, Seven?" Fox stopped him before he could run off. "Just a quick question. Is your name Vince?"
The fox seemed to be taken by surprise by the question, but merely looked away. "I don't know who that is."
Fox pursed his lips. "Oh. You just seem to act like an old friend of mine."
"Coincidence," deadpanned Seven, wasting no time in catching up with Five and Krystal.
Six growled as he brandished his hammer. "You three mercenaries better stay outta my way when I have this out," he warned, approaching the locked metal blast doors. He didn't wait any further as he wound up and bashed the weapon against the doors, poking a hole into the base.
Another swing broke down half of the door, allowing himself and the others to slip into the base.