CHAPTER 11- THE ESCAPE ARTIST
"No. I'm not going out like this." He said to himself as he looked around the room for some way to break out of his cell. From his window, he could see that a wall had been built around the greater area of the town. He could catch glimpses of spotlights on the ground, repeating in a pattern.
'One step at a time Banjo.' He thought feeling the keyhole of the lock on his cell. It was rather large, a skeleton key was most likely what opened it. He looked around the floor of his cell for something to pick the lock, but it was barren. He slumped against the back wall as he sank down to the ground in defeat. He reflexively reached for the charm on his necklace like always when he was worried or nervous. Then it hit him!
'Oh duh! This'll work perfectly!" He said with renewed hope as he stood back up and took off his necklace and began to work the shark tooth into the lock. He began to pick the lock when a shadow passed out side the door, startling him. He snatched the sharktooth out of the lock and stashed it in his pocket, assuming the shadow outside the door would come in. But it moved on without so much as a peek in the window. Breathing a sigh of relief, he continued his delicate work. After a few gentle turns, the tumblers finally gave way and his cell door slowly creaked open. He smiled and pumped his fist in victory as he stepped out of his cell. He snuck over to the door and carefully peered outside the bars on the window. This Showdown town was quite a different place than it had been a day ago. Smoke still rose from the rubble of some buildings as the bomb ravaged hellscape stretched on until it reached the rather untouched rolling hills outside the town. Luckily for them, the attack had happened on a Sunday, so most of the town square was empty. Either way, Banjo had to devise a way to slip out unnoticed.
'They'll kill me if they see me, but I'll be killed if I stay here...looks like I don't have much to lose...' He thought somberly as he kicked the dirt in an effort to think of a way to slip past the guards. As the dust settled around his foot, it hit him.
"This is a dirt floor! I can dig my way out!" He said as he looked around for a place where he could dig in the shadows, away from the attention of the passing guards. He went to the corner and the soft dirt gave easily to the pressure of his paws. Within the hour, he had a three foot deep hole under the old arcade. It was already dark, giving him a maximum of twelve hours to break out and head for the woods.
'I need to pick up the pace if I'm going to break out before dawn!' He thought as he plugged along, throwing dirt behind him as he went.
xXx
Kazooie jumped through an open window and into a old dilapidated bathroom. The floorboards had been ripped out where the toilet had been leaving only a sink in the room. The Breegul walked to the fixture and twisted the knob. The whole house seemed to shake and groan as the dry old pipes channeled the water to the place requesting it. At first, brown water only sputtered forth from the aged fixture. But soon it lightened up and became a little clearer.
"That still looks pretty sketch." Falco said.
"It'll be fine for what we're using it for. Just don't drink it." She said grabbing a bucket in the corner.
Soon it was filled up and she shoved it in Falco's chest as she leapt to the window sill.
"Oh and dont get any on you either. You dont want to know where it came from." She said gliding down from the rooftop.
Falco immediately kept the pale of dingy liquid at arms length the whole way back to the digger.
After adding the water to the radiator, the twelve cylinder engine came to life and fell back into a normal temperture range.
Falco dove into the ground and they were off once more.
xXx
"I've got something that will make this go a lot smoother." Slippy said reaching in his rucksack and removing four small, saucer sized items.
"Put these on your belts and press the center button. No one will see you coming!" He said proudly.
They did so and all of them melted into the scenery around them becoming invisible to all but the most watchful eyes.
"Glad they work, I've been itching to test them." He said also becoming invisible.
Silently they moved toward the wall in the dark of night, avoiding the spotlights circling in their predictable patterns. Krystal removed her light torch from her ruck and was a second away from lighting it when a small portion of the ground beneath them began to sink. She stumbled back as Fox and Slippy aimed their weapons at the offending soil as a small hole formed. A second after the appearance of the hole, all the searchlights on the wall lit up and began searching every inch of the town. A loud siren soon heralded the spotlights as a brown, dirty bear in yellow shorts popped out of the hole, exhausted.
He looked up, seeing nothing, but then a fox, toad, another fox, and a cat materialize out of thin air, with more laser rifles in his face. At first, he pounded his fist in the dirt, assuming he'd been caught. But then he noticed their uniforms.
'They're dressed like Falco! These must be his friends!' He thought perking up enough to climb out of the hole.
"Who are you?" Katt asked, her pistol drawn and trained on the bear turned mole.
"My name is Banjo, and I just broke out of jail. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to get as far away from here as possible!" He said trying to flee into the woods, only to have Fox grab hold of his arm to stop him.
"Wait, before you go, have you seen a blue bird in a uniform like ours here?" He asked.
"You mean Falco? Yes, he's been living with us for the past few weeks. I can take you to him, but first you have to get me out of here!"
"Ok, this way." Fox said as the rest of the team and Banjo retreated away from the blaring alarms and bright searchlights of occupied Showdown Town.
xXx
Falco had been driving for hours now, the temperature levels remained nominal throughout, as the hum of the engine became like background noise as he glanced over at the Breegul to his right.
She was staring blankly at the flashing lights and different sized gauges on the instrument panel. Even with the spaced out look on her face, he had to admit she had grown on him. She was just like he was, possibly even worse. Her eyes began to shift in his direction, quickly demanding his gaze be returned to the controls before she saw him. He caught himself yawning and decided to surface for the night. With a lurch and an rpm increase, they had reached the surface once more, Falco popping out of the top hatch to find the shore of a sandy, moonlit beach with a large lighthouse on the top of an arch-shaped rock, high above the lagoon.
Kazooie came out beside Falco and knew this locale as Treasure Trove Cove.
"You and me, alone on a moonlit beach. Romantic isn't it?" Falco said resting an elbow on the side of the tank and his face on his fist, with a sarcastic smile on his face.
"Shove it horndog. I'll be sleeping with my back to a palm tree tonight." She said rolling her eyes, crawling out of the tank.
After a few minutes, Falco had built a fire, which the two of them lay on opposite sides of.
"So why Banjo?" Falco asked after a few minutes of silence.
"What do you mean 'why Banjo'?"
"What is it about him that you love so much?"
"How'd you know I loved him?"
"I didnt until just now."
She could kick herself for falling for that, but it would have to wait because this subject would not be easily dropped. Especially not with an antagonist like him.
"Well I was just messing with you. Of course I don't love Banjo."
"No you werent. You love him and you know it"
"Shove it bird boy, shove it where your species traditionally shoves things. I don't love Banjo, and that's that. Goodnight jackass." She said rolling over, facing away from the fire.
Falco just smiled. Oh, how he loved stirring up trouble.
xXx
"Wolf the bear prisoner has escaped!" Covo said bursting through the flap in his tent.
A scowl grew across his face as he replaced his eyepatch with the robotic replacement he had grown accustomed to. He turned to face his informant, its green glow shining dimly in the dark of his tent.
"Thats ok. I had the guards install a little gift inside his backpack while he was unconscious. He wont get far." He said, his scowl dropping into an amused grin.
xXx
Upon arrival at their Arwings, they discussed Banjo's options of transportation aboard their ships.
"Looks like you'll have to hitch a ride in the missile bay." Fox explained as the rest of his team's canopy's hissed shut.
"Are you sure its safe?" He asked cautiously.
"Its airtight, and its only a short trip back to the Great Fox. You'll be fine." He said confidently as climbing into his cockpit and opening the mechanical doors. Banjo was nervous, but he had trusted them so far, and with the fate of his only family unknown, he had nothing to lose. Or so he thought. He climbed into the belly of the spacecraft and it roared off in pursuit of his team mates.
Fox landed in the docking bay straight away and let his ursine cargo out, Banjo flopping onto the floor of the ship. Dusting himself off, he marveled at the technology around him, even if it did look a bit...out of repair.
"C'mon, lets get you to the bridge. Everyone will want to hear hows old Falco's doing." He said as Banjo followed him down the hallways and elevators.
"This is a real nice spaceship you got here...uhh..."
"I'm Fox, leader of the Star Fox team." He said as the elevator door opened onto the bridge where the others were waiting.
"These are my crewmates, Slippy, Krystal, Peppy, and our associate Katt."
"Nice to meet y'all." Banjo said as they nodded.
"So, Falco is alive is he?" Katt asked.
"Sure is, he-" But Banjo was interrupted by static coming from inside his backpack.
He stopped and took it off, unzipping the compartment to find a small handheld radio.
"So, you managed to escape. Bravo bear, Bravo indeed." the voice said from the other end of a microphone. The crew of the Great Fox recognized it immediately.
"Its Wolf!" Slippy stated.
"Oh, it sounds like you have some company. The remaining members of Star Fox I presume?"
"How'd you know it was us Wolf?" Fox asked, irritated that their cover had been blown.
"Please, you aren't the type to just let something go, are you Fox? I knew you'd come looking for us as soon as Leon told me he'd shot down Falco."
"We know he's alive!" Katt added angrily, speaking to one of those responsible for his disappearance.
"Anyway, the fact that you are now in the presence of my most fierce of rivals will make what I'm about to do all the sweeter. Goodbye, Star Fox!" He said as a digital beep was heard coming from inside Banjo's pack. They all looked down and saw a bomb sewn into the very fabric of the ruck with 20 seconds on the timer.
"Oh crap its sewn in! We'll have to throw the whole thing out!" Slippy said.
Banjo was shocked. He couldn't give up his backpack! He'd had it ever since he was a cub, besides his yellow shorts and sharktooth necklace, it was all he had!
"Maybe he's bluffing?" Banjo asked hopefully.
"Wolf doesn't bluff, now throw it into the airlock before we're all vaporized!" Krystal said as Banjo sadly trotted to the waiting port and shot it out into space.
'Please be a dud, please be a dud, please be a dud!' He thought as he counted off the seconds in his head. Soon the 20 seconds had come and gone, with no affect.
He breathed a sigh of relief as he turned to the crew.
"Thank goodness. Can you guys go get that for me? It has a lot of sentimental value..." He said, but stopped as he noticed a bright flash outside the ship. The bomb had not been a dud.
Something inside the gentle bear snapped as his most prized article of clothing was shredded above his planet.
"NOOOOOO!!! BACKPACK!!!!" He shouted in horror as he dashed to the radio Fox was holding and began to growl into it at Wolf.
"That was a one-of-a-kind backpack you twisted fuck! I will destroy you." he said narrowing his eyes.
"Ha ha ha, such a pity you managed to remove it before the fun began. Oh well, Its not like you could stop us anyway. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a starship fuel empire to create."
Ok there ya go! Sorry about the lateness, but at least Banjo escaped! more to come next chap!