25 reviews with five chapters to go after this one. I hope I can make it to 40. Maybe.
All right. Chapter 11. As you can tell, I've put up a poll on my profile of your favorite one of my stories. Thus far, the only vote has gone to Wing And A Scare Book I. Also, once again, the update days for this and Underworld have coincided.
The next few chapters may feel like I'm rushing through the action a little bit, but it's not super important to cover absolutely everything. This is where we are going to get a little deeper into the battling. Remember: there's still five more planets and sectors to go through before Venom!
This chapter will also feature a neutral POV at the end. This is what I did for both of my SYOTs. I hope that you find it to your liking.
Responses to reviewers:
Cosmicsafe74: I'm glad you like the way this is going.
Zaravan: Yep, they've toppled one obstacle, still some more to go.
LUCAS'S POV
The next thing I remember, I was waking up the next morning with the face of Dr. Howler in, well, my own face.
"So you've woken up. Good" she said, looking at me with a very irritated expression. Trying to remember what I had done wrong, I nevertheless tried to look as innocent as possible.
That was right...I'd been cuddling with Willow in my cabin, and we'd both fallen asleep. My headphones had been removed from my head, and I didn't know exactly why Dr. Howler seemed to be so angry about it. It had not been on purpose, so why should it be so big a problem?
"Each of you have your own cabins for a reason" she said. "You are only supposed to sleep in your designated cabin. Lucas Enfield, Willow Foster...I will ask you to work together to clean the dishes after breakfast for the next week. I think that this is a just consequence".
"But it was an accident!" Willow said. "I didn't mean to fall asleep in Lucas's bed. It just...happened. Believe me, I'm sorry".
"If you're truly sorry", the Bengal tiger said, "you're going to do what I ask of you. And don't even think about trying to get out of it".
I stopped protesting right there. There were three things you didn't do in front of Dr. Howler, and those were disobeying her medical instructions, questioning her judgment, and refusing to do what she asked of you regarding something else. Really, you wanted to do whatever she said, because it was for your own good, and hers. I mean, she was a doctor. They know some stuff, right?
Breakfast was right then, so we quickly changed out of our pajamas and went to the dining hall. The others didn't look pleased that they had had to wait before digging into their food, but that wasn't our fault, at least not if you asked me. Maybe if you asked Dr. Howler.
"So today we're going to try to take down Bolse" Falco said, as if it was as easy as getting a snack from the fridge.
"It's not that simple" Dr. Howler said. "There are going to be a hell of a lot of aliens there to guard the core, which is what we are really after. And if we destroy Bolse, we still have four whole planets and sectors to go through".
"I know" Konstantin said. "But I've played enough military video games to know that every time you take one of their bases, it really does help to drive them back. We are going to be able to get this done, one way or another".
I was a little surprised by the Texan's demeanor. He was rarely so optimistic as he seemed to be today. I could only hope that all of us had such reasons to be optimistic as he no doubt did, but I wasn't too sure about that. The way things were going, it was hard to imagine a happy ending.
No, I thought. I had to keep on thinking that there was a way that we were going to win this war. And, perhaps if we won, Konstantin might be pardoned. I could hope.
But it was important to be realistic, and think about what was going on today. That was, we were going to Bolse. And we were going to take the satellite, or otherwise make it so that it could not be used by the enemy forces.
"So we take Bolse", I said, tearing into a baguette, "and then we head up-galaxy until we get to Zoness. We'll take those upper planets and then go to Macbeth. Then it's Area 6 to Venom. Sounds like a challenge".
"I've been working on the Arwings" Jack said. "I think that I've gotten them to a point that they can definitely be flown a decent bit faster than they were before, by a factor of five over four. Just make sure that you can control them well".
"I'll second that" Falco said. "It took me and Fox a long time to learn how to fly well, so I don't think you are all experts after just a few weeks. Especially Lucas" he said, pointing to me.
I felt mildly embarrassed at that. It wasn't my fault that I'd been shot and been unable to use my leg to help pilot an Arwing.
"We'll make our way through the various hallways and tunnels within the satellite, and then we'll get to the core and strike it down" Jack said. "From our study of the satellite, that is what we have learned of how it was designed".
"Yep" Falco said. "And, with that, it's time for you guys to get ready. We should be arriving at the Bolse Defense Satellite in just about two hours. And I've heard from Tigre that you have another task, Lucas Enfield and Willow Foster. You've got to wash the dishes".
I wished that Falco wouldn't have reminded me of that, but I didn't dare say it out loud. I knew that I had to do what Falco demanded or else. He was a lot like Dr. Howler in that sense.
Willow and I got set on doing the dishes. It wasn't the worst thing I'd ever done. It wasn't as though Dr. Howler had ordered us to clean the entire ship using a toothbrush. Things really could be worse.
Although, I did have a question about why Falco had addressed the doctor the way he did. Before, he'd always called her Dr. Howler. Now, he called her by her first name. Why was that?
Is it possible that...that...
I didn't want to let that thought finish. I had enough to worry about without thinking about whether or not sparks were flying between our ace pilot and our Bengal tiger doctor. I didn't even want to wonder about what their baby would look like.
First things first, Lucas. Survive today first. Then, you can worry about whether or not they're falling in love.
That sure sounded like a good idea to me.
It wasn't a tough task, and we were done within twenty minutes. Really, if Dr. Howler took the cadets sleeping in their own cabins that seriously, her punishments didn't show it.
I decided that I was going to go and visit Jack. I walked down the hallway towards where there was the lift to the room with the cannons. I opened the door and found exactly who I had thought I would see.
Jack Novsky seemed to be working on his next project. He'd said over breakfast that he was going to work on upgrading our cannons. Not those of the Arwings, those had already been upgraded. No, he was upgrading the cannons of the Great Fox.
"Oh, hello, Lucas" he said as he saw me walk into the room.
"How's it going, Jack?" I asked him.
"It's all right. You know, I didn't sign up for so many battles. I thought, being 47 and all, that I would be mostly done with being a foot soldier, but that has obviously not been my experience here".
"Of course", Jack said, "once we get to Zoness, we probably will mostly be using the Arwings there. And Sector Z as well. There isn't much place to go on foot there".
I nodded. "Jack, do you think that we can take Bolse?"
"I definitely do, Lucas. It's important to be optimistic. After all, it's, what, February 25 now? It sure has been a while for them to still be on the hunt for Konstantin".
"I know" I said. "Let's hope he gets pardoned if we win.
"I'm sure that could be arranged. But right now, Lucas, you have to get ready for battle. I'll see you later".
Jack made me leave the room, although I knew that he was right. We really did need to prepare if we wanted to win today.
WILLOW'S POV
Approximately two hours after Lucas and I had finished washing the dishes, we reached the hangar bay of Bolse. The satellite was absolutely massive, perhaps two miles from top to bottom. It was so big that it even had its own gravity and an artificial atmosphere, meaning that as long as we were inside the little invisible bubble surrounding the satellite, we would not suffocate or die from the radiation.
If you ask me, that was kind of a stupid design flaw, which could make it easier for it to be invaded and destroyed. But that's just my own opinion.
We got out of the Great Fox, and immediately were greeted by stale indoor air, just the kind you would expect from such a large defense satellite. Psychedelic lights covered all of the walls of the hangar bay, so it would be like some kind of crazy drug trip. At least, that's what I'd imagine, since I have never taken any non-prescription drugs.
In any case, it was both beautiful and terrible at the same time.
Over the last few weeks, I'd taken some time to play Star Fox 64 on the Virtual Console of the Wii that we had in the rec room on the Great Fox. I was aware that, if you arrive on Venom from Bolse (which means you either let Slippy get smacked down to Titania, shoot the Forever Train down on Macbeth, or let a missile in Sector Z hit the Great Fox), you get the bad ending, meaning that the Andross you destroyed was just a robot and the real Andross is still alive.
Hopefully, this Battle Of Bolse would not have such a depressing ending.
"That's quite a hangar" Cole said.
I knew what he was thinking. In fact, those words echoed my thoughts almost exactly. But there was really one thing that we had to do, and that was:
"Let's get inside the base and work our way to the core" Jack said.
We ran inside the satellite and almost immediately were swarmed by aliens.
Of course, Fox was the best shot that we had had yesterday on Titania, but he'd gone off somewhere else now. We couldn't rely on his help anymore.
"Let's get them!" Falco said.
Lucas began shooting his blaster. As much as I loved him, I was a little wary of being in a relationship with someone who could shoot like that. Then again, all of us had used blasters before as well, and Lucas had gotten shot by one. There was no reason to be so judgmental about that.
The hallways here looked kind of like those on the Star Destroyer from Star Wars. There were multicolored lights on the sides, with white walls and gray floors. And the aliens were kind of like Stormtroopers, for want of a better comparison.
Cole was also a big help. He was pretty accurate with his shots, and without him there is a good chance that we might not have done as well as we did. I still wondered if he had ever killed anyone before in his life back in Detroit, but I had decided long ago that I was never going to ask him that question. I was sure that he wouldn't want to tell me if the answer was yes. Either way, he'd probably stop liking me.
"Oh no! They're crushing us!" one of the aliens shouted.
Yeah, you guys are going down, I thought.
Really, we had the better weapons. Those Anglar blasters were no match for ours. Falco was occasionally checking the maps of the base that were scattered all around the hallways to help figure out the way to the center. Unlike the base on Titania, Bolse was a little simpler in layout and easier to navigate. In spite of everything, there only seemed to be one level of passageways, the hangar bay being close to the top.
It really wasn't too hard to get to the middle. We made some left turns, then a couple of right turns, and we eventually came to a corridor that was teal around the edges. According to Falco, this was the way to the center stairwell that led up to the outside of the satellite.
"If we climb up there, we'll have to take down the six energy towers. If we can do that, we just take down the core and we're going to be golden. Let's get this thing done!"
I couldn't argue with that. After a few more hallways, and a few dozen more aliens, we reached the stairwell. It was spiraling all around the room up to the ceiling, which was about a hundred feet up from here. It looked like the mansion of an extremely wealthy person.
"Up there!" Falco said. "That's where the energy towers are going to be. We're going to have to take them down, and we're going to take down the core, and then it's off to the upper parts of the Lylat System! Let's do this!"
As we ran up the stairs, it became easier and easier. I realized, eventually, that this was because the gravity was beginning to decrease. Although the Bolse Defense Satellite generated its own gravitational force, it was, according to Falco, only about a fourth as strong as it was on Earth or Corneria, or even Fichina.
I was even more grateful that we could still breathe, thanks to the invisible bubble of air. It really did help, because if it had not been for that, there would be no way that we could destroy the energy towers.
"You take those on the left, I'll take the right!" Falco said to me.
We had reached the top of the stairwell. In a two-mile square around us, there were six towers twenty or so feet tall, with lights on the top. The ground was metallic gray and very boring-looking, which I suppose was just what should have been expected on the defense satellite.
Thanks to the low gravity, I was quick to reach the first one. Pulling out my blaster, I aimed upwards at a high angle. Sure enough, I was able to take down the first energy tower with no problems. Because of the gravity being only 25% as strong, I was able to reach heights of up to seven feet with each jump. It was really quite fun, much like one of those bouncy houses they have at birthday parties.
The energy towers were perhaps three-quarters of a mile apart from each other, but it felt like less than a mile to me. Within fifteen minutes, I had gotten to all of the towers. Shooting them down was a piece of cake.
I looked over to the other side of the satellite. Nearly two miles away from me, Falco had been doing the same. Together, we had successfully shot down all six of the energy towers.
"Look out, Willow!" Falco yelled from far away. Then I remembered that my flight suit (which I was wearing right now) had a communicator on it. That was how I had been able to hear him from such a great distance. Then, I noticed that there was something rising in the center of the two-mile square.
It was the satellite's core. A hundred yards wide, there were any number of yellow squares on it that I could only assume were meant to be shot down. Some of these were shooting lasers at me, and, not wanting to get as seriously hurt as Lucas had, I ducked out of the way as soon as possible.
Mashing the trigger on my blaster, I ran around whenever I needed to. I didn't really care where I was shooting, I just wanted to keep shooting.
Falco was completely on the other side, but I saw that there were only a few spots left on the tower. Eventually, there was one.
Then, Falco said, "I just shot down the last one. Be careful! Once we've gotten all of them shot down, there's still the fact that it's going to explode ten minutes after that!"
"YOU COULD'VE TOLD ME SOONER!!" I yelled, sprinting back to the middle before I took my last shot.
My last laser hit the core head-on, and it exploded. Somehow, neither Falco nor I were harmed in the slightest by the blast, although my ears were still ringing for several hours after that.
"Attack those stairs! We can't be here when this base blows up, or we're done for!"
We sprinted down the stairs and met up with the others. "We've got ten minutes to get out of here before the base explodes" I told them.
We all started running as fast as we could, consulting the map occasionally when we weren't sure where we had to go in order to get out. It was very unnerving to have to figure out the way when all of us knew that we didn't have much time to get out of here. It wasn't a situation I would have willingly entered into, mark my words.
In any case, we faced a few aliens on the way, but we were mostly focused on running. A laser to the leg wouldn't matter if we died from the explosion.
We didn't hesitate to get into the Great Fox, and then Falco piloted us out of there as quickly as he could. And not a second too soon, too.
Because as soon as we were three hundred yards away, the satellite exploded, sending debris all over the place.
"We did it" I sighed in relief.
I had to sit down to prevent myself from passing out.
Later, we had a strategy meeting at lunch. In order to celebrate our destroying the Bolse Defense Satellite, Konstantin and Dr. Howler had worked together to make a pizza recipe he had known back in Texas. It looked pretty good.
Granted, any food would taste as great, at least in my own opinion, if you had just succeeded in such a dangerous and important battle. We'd just destroyed Bolse. That wasn't a small victory by any means.
"So, now we've taken Bolse" Cole said. "What's next? Zoness?"
"Yeah" Jack said. "Any idea of how long it's going to take to get there, Falco?"
Falco had been poring over a map of the Lylat System that he'd been using as a napkin. "It's going to be about a week until we reach the toxic waste area. It is February 25 today, right?"
"Yeah" Ian said.
Since unmasking himself back in the Cornerian mountains, Ian had slowly been opening up more and more. Hard to believe it had only been 23 days since we'd rescued Konstantin; it felt like several years.
I thought about how everyone else had changed in the last few weeks as I bit into my pepperoni pizza (which was pretty awesome, by the way).
Cole had told us that he'd been kind of a juvenile delinquent back in his old life in Detroit. Right now, though, it was hard to see it. He was very loyal to the group. I'd never forget how he had helped to save Lucas's life not once but twice. And he was a real crack-shot with the Anglars. That was something that I would commend him on for a long time.
Konstantin had become, if anything, more brooding and patriotic as the weeks had passed. No doubt having been through a harsh imprisonment in a mountain dungeon did that to a person. At the same time, however, he had shown a different side. He seemed to be very brave from what I could tell. After all, he had risked quite a lot when he'd arrived at the flight academy, singing a song that he thought was patriotic while flipping off the Cornerian flag.
Lucas Enfield...I could write a whole book about the guy. I loved him so, and yet he also irritated me at times. I just wished I knew precisely what I thought about him. The way things were, I was pretty jumbled up. But if anything, surviving being shot with a laser at point-blank range was making him more arrogant. Again, I didn't know what to think.
I could only imagine what the others thought of me.
"So it's March 4 by the time we reach Zoness...man, it's been a long time that we've been travelling".
"I know" Lucas said. "But once we do that, we're in the home stretch. Just a few more battles and we will have won. And then, we get to create the rules".
How could Lucas sound so vindictive all of a sudden? This made me a little more wary of him.
Still, though, I couldn't dwell too much on that. Not when we had a week of downtime until we reached Zoness. Then, the real fun would begin.
KONSTANTIN'S POV
In reality, it was only going to be about five days until we got to Zoness. Our estimated arrival date was March 2 rather than March 4. It had just been that five days was kind of close to a week, so that was what we had said during lunch.
I was in the map room, charting a course with Falco and Dr. Howler. It didn't look like there would be too many obstacles on our way. We could just go past Macbeth rather than Solar. Even though the former was well-defended, we weren't going to be shot out of the sky for just passing through. Most likely, they would save that task for the Venomian forces on Zoness.
I helped our chaperones figure out the route, and then I decided that I wanted to have something to do over the next five days besides just help the adults with everything (granted, I was only two and a half months from being twenty myself, but I'll digress). Jack was still working on weapon upgrades as far as I knew, and Falco and Dr. Howler...who knew what was going on with them?
I could definitely tell that the two of them had gotten closer over the last few weeks. Ever since we had fled Corneria, I'd started to suspect that there might even be a chance, however slight, that they were falling for each other. I mean, I was a nerd and all that, but even I knew the telltale signs of the beginnings of a romance. That was just something that I was able to pick up on.
I was just standing there absentmindedly, when I felt myself clutching a furry body close to myself. I was choking the person, punching them with every bit of my being. I imagined tearing off his gray fur with my teeth like a German shepherd.
Oh, and did I mention that this body belonged to Wolf O'Donnell?
He wasn't on the Great Fox, but I felt the need for revenge was stronger today than it normally was. Normally, I was able to temper myself a little bit by resolving to focus more on the battles. Given that we were entering a five-day grace period, during which we would be pretty much free of deadly fights for our lives and the Lylat System, it was starting to flare up again.
In other words, I wanted something else to get me through this semi-charmed life.
I decided to head to the wrestling room. I'd never done too much of the sport myself, but it was at least going to be something to do while I waited for my chance to actually get revenge on that jerk.
I was just about to throw myself onto the mat with no real rhyme or reason when I heard a voice from behind me.
"You want me to help you practice?"
I looked around. Falco Lombardi was walking into the room. Apparently, they were completely done with whatever they had been doing at the moment.
"You know, you're the perfect build for a wrestler" Falco said.
"Thanks" I said, not really taking it as a compliment. I'd always been a little bit chubby, a lot more so for a period in my early teens, but now I was back to being slightly overweight after I had lost some weight in that prison cell.
"So here are some moves. There's the piledriver, for one".
Falco picked me up and hurled me upside down. This was not something I was ready for, and I quickly became disoriented. I'd luckily taken off my glasses, or I could have gotten hurt pretty badly.
"Sorry. That was probably not a good move to start out with, am I right?"
"Yeah" I said. "Why don't you teach me some other moves?"
He showed me the dropkick, the Boston crab, and several other moves. Once I felt that I had gotten a good grasp on it, I asked for an actual match between the two of us. I was playing dangerously today.
Falco accepted, and right away I knew I had made a big mistake. Falco was clearly an expert at this, while I was just a beginner. I really did suck at wrestling, and I really had been far too ambitious in requesting a match.
"I'm sorry" I said. "I know I suck at wrestling".
"That's okay" Falco replied. "It takes a lot of practice, and you're only just starting. Is it okay, if I may ask, that you tell me why you decided now was the time to take up wrestling?"
Do I tell him?
"Yes" I said. "Basically, I am just so angry at Wolf O'Donnell for getting the jury to lock me up and execute me. And then he shot Lucas! When I saw him lying there...that really made my blood boil, let me tell you!"
Falco stroked my back as though I was a crying little boy. "I know. But Lucas is fully recovered now. And we're going to win this war. And, once we do, I will give you the full privilege of killing Wolf. Do you want to do that?"
I smiled. "I thought you'd never ask".
Back in the rec room, I found Lucas sitting on the couch in front of our Wii. I debated asking him if he wanted to play a game, until I finally decided in favor of it. We had five days until our next battle, so we could afford to enjoy ourselves for a little while.
"Hey, Lucas, would you like to play some Mario Kart or something?" I asked him.
He looked over at me. "Yeah, sure. I think we could use some distraction from the war. Now...which one? Wii?"
"Yeah".
Lucas took the Super Smash Bros. Brawl disc out of the system and replaced it with the Mario Kart Wii disc. Then, he sat on the couch next to me.
We ended up selecting a VS. race, with Lucas playing as Yoshi and me playing as Wario. We had a pretty good time. At least, we were until one thing happened on the final race.
We'd been trading off first place and second place. Lucas had a total of 42 points by virtue of winning the first and third races, while I had 39 by virtue of winning the second. The last race was pretty much going to decide the winner between the two of us.
Lucas had gotten off to a pretty good lead, and he had a very good chance to win the race. However, he heard the dreaded sound coming from behind him.
"Oh, fuck!" he said, realizing that he was about to be hit by a blue shell.
It was too late, however, and the shell came and sent him flying. Because of this, I was able to take first, while Lucas slid all the way down to 7th place.
"Dude, that's bullshit. I fucking hate the blue shell!"
"Why do you think Nintendo put it in the game, then?" I asked him, grinning from ear to ear.
"To annoy people?" Lucas said. We both laughed a little at that.
We shook hands as a sign of good sportsmanship. It really was something that came from surviving several very dangerous battles over the last few weeks. We were staying alive despite everything, and I figured that was reason enough to celebrate.
That was also why, when I went to bed that night, I felt truly happy for the first time in more than a month. I felt like things were going to go well. And I knew that I was going to get my sweet revenge on that asshole by the name of Wolf O'Donnell. It was going to happen.
NEUTRAL POV
The beginning of March came during Corneria's rainy season. The city was soaked, with the bright colors of billboards advertising everything from video games to presidential candidates to shampoo dulled slightly. The sky overhead was a very grim color, perhaps #597979. Rain poured down, and anyone with a little bit of sense was sitting inside their apartments with a hot drink.
Except for one person. He was, after all, Corneria's main military general, and he had paid an instrumental part in the war eleven years ago. Now, today, he had a meeting to go to with a certain other person.
It pertained to a certain escaped prisoner, who, for four weeks, had not been caught. He was now suspected to be traveling with Lucas Enfield and his team.
"I'm getting too old for this" General Pepper said to himself as he left his apartment. Making sure his jacket was secure around him, he hailed a taxi to a nearby bar, which was where he was supposed to meet with James McCloud.
James had been killed by Andross after being betrayed by Pigma Dengar in the First Lylat War. Now, he was able to come back in hologram form. He'd presided over the trial of Konstantin Brockenbough, the escaped prisoner. Now, they were going to the bar to discuss Konstantin and the war.
General Pepper's taxi took half an hour, driving on the slick streets, to reach the pub. Called Foxy Flagons, it was known to serve up all sorts of beverages and bar food, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. Right now, Pepper needed to be sober, so he got in the bar and ordered his favorite drink to have here- seltzer water with a splash of cranberry juice.
The pub was empty but for them, which wasn't surprising. It had been booked specifically for this meeting, and was not open to the public for this two-hour period. After all, this was all classified. The public didn't need to be constantly worried about Konstantin Brockenbough. They were worried enough knowing that he had been at large for a month now and they had not seen hide nor hair of him.
Eventually, Pepper's friend arrived. James McCloud was his usual cyan holographic form, hanging about two feet above the floor of the pub. He looked irritated about something.
"How's it going, James?" the general asked the vulpine.
"It's really kind of shitty right now, General" the fox said. "We've been looking for this guy for a month, and yet new intelligence suggests that he was on Fichina for a period of roughly a week and a half".
"You don't say! How could the Fichinans have willingly kept him there without holding him accountable, or sending him back to us? More importantly, how could they have kept this from us?"
"I don't know" James said. "But it gets worse. According to them, new evidence has come to light that suggests...uh...".
"What is it?"
"Our new evidence seems to suggest that Konstantin may not have actually been the one responsible for the betrayal of the Grey Clouds Flight Academy. In that case, he was obviously wrongfully convicted, although I don't know exactly how we can figure out which interpretation of the facts is right and which one is not".
General Pepper was shocked. In all of these weeks, he had never considered the possibility that Konstantin was innocent. He'd assumed that the jury on Corneria, at the alternate location for the school, was sufficient to ascertain the truth. And they had ruled Konstantin guilty. Normally, Cornerian justice was pretty good at determining these things.
Unlike America, where all twelve jurors had to vote guilty for the defendant to be found guilty, Corneria only required a simple majority of seven out of twelve. There was no filibuster or anything, that also having been done away with a long time ago. When there were no defense lawyers, no huge bureaucracy, things got done a lot faster.
"You've got to be kidding me. I can't imagine that-".
"Well, that's what seems to be the case. Those on Fichina must not have been convinced of Brockenbough's guilt, or else they would have sent him right back to us. You know this, Pepper. The Fichinans are a lot harder on them than we are".
General Pepper thought about this. He guessed that this made sense.
"It seems that one Wolf O'Donnell may have attempted to manipulate the jury into swinging against Brockenbough" James continued. "I don't know if that's the case, but we have to give the intelligence the benefit of the doubt. I think that we have reason to trust that".
"Where is Wolf now?" Pepper asked.
James looked a little angrier. "We never should have trusted him. He never really changed. On Fichina, he shot Lucas Enfield with a laser. He's okay now, but Wolf escaped. Right now, we're looking for him as well, although he's probably going back to Venom".
"What could he be doing there?"
"It's anyone's guess, really" James said. "However, we have to be prepared for the worst. If he was willing to kill William Wexford, Michael Kirk, and Athena Hooter on his way to get to Lucas Enfield...that's a problem. Definitely, we're going to have to get rid of Wolf sooner rather than later".
"Now that you mention it, yeah, it's probably best that we do as much as we can to kill him. Because we can't recapture him, or else he's just going to escape again. We need a more permanent solution. How is Konstantin doing?"
"Konstantin Brockenbough seems to be fully recovered physically. I'm not too sure how emotionally well he is right now, but rest assured that when he gets back, if he has helped us win the war, we are going to give him a full pardon. How does that sound?"
General Pepper squeezed his lime wedge into his drink, which he only had about a fourth left of.
"I think that's a good idea, if he truly is innocent. I hate executing people for no reason, and it looks like we almost did. It's a good thing that Star Enfield managed to break him out of there. It's our own fault, isn't it?"
"No" James said, a vindictive expression appearing on his face. "It's Wolf's".
