"Lady Karoline!" screamed Peppy atop of his lungs.

Fox had just finished telling Peppy and Slippy about the situation that they had gotten themselves into, or more like Marcus had gotten them into.

"Yeah, she means business Peppy" said Falco trying to console his teammate, obviously failing.

"You think I don't know, oh, it seems like Déjà vu, it's happening all over again!" Peppy seemed to be deeply disheartened at these news.

Fox was explaining to Slippy who Lady Karoline was and he overheard the failed attempts by Falco to make Peppy feel a little better, and something caught Fox's attention. Peppy said that it was "happening all over again". Fox walked over to Peppy who was now angry.

"Peppy, what do you mean by all over again?"

Peppy walked over to Fox, his face looked hopeless, and he started to talk slowly to Fox.

"Back when the team was only me and your father, we ran across Lady Karoline. We were taken prisoners and got thrown into a prison cell in her ship. Guess who was in that cell?" asked Peppy, he looked much stressed but Fox couldn't understand why.

Fox wondered for a quick moment who they could have found there, and he instantly knew who it was.

"Marcus"

"Of course, the three us were put into the same stinking small cell, I don't know how we were able to get out of there"

Falco was approaching the both of them to hear closely to what Peppy was saying.

"She called for Marcus, then your father, and then a guard came by and told me we were being let go. We were taken to our fighters and we quickly flew away from that ship, when I asked your Father what happened he just answered with 'don't ask'. It was really weird and disturbing"

Fox couldn't understand why Peppy was so disturbed about his encounter with Lady Karoline. Sure, she was one of the most dangerous individuals in Lylat, but spending a couple of hours inside a prison cell didn't seem like such a big deal to Fox.

"But Peppy, why is it such a big deal?"

Fox noticed that Falco was listening very carefully.

"We spent one week in that cell before anything happened, they would usually let Marcus out once every day, and he would come back with food for us. We would ask him what happened; you know what he always said? 'Its private business, and you really don't want to know' and when we were let go, he didn't come with us!" Fox now clearly understood why Peppy would be so disturbed. Falco was about to say something but he was interrupted.

"Incoming transmission from Marcus" said ROB whit his robotic and monotone voice. One of the large screens in the Great Fox's bridge turned on and the team gathered around it. The screen showed Marcus, or just his face and what appeared to be him inside his fighter, the Kaori.

"Hey guys, I just found out who is after us…" said Marcus, his voice distorted a little with a digital hum.

The whole Star Fox team just stared at him with a look of anger; they had reasons to be angry at him. He shows up out of nowhere, after apparently being away from the system for many years, and he gets Star Fox in a situation which could cost them their lives, for no particular reason.

"I see, you know now. Look, its better if we stick together, five heads are better than one away from four"

With what Star Fox was able to see in the screen, Marcus was stopping his fighter, somewhere in Lylat. Fox responded to Marcus proposal.

"That sounds like a good idea Marcus; you have a lot more explaining to do that we deserve, where exactly do you want us to meet you"

"Meet me at Zoness, I'm sending you the exact coordinates of where you can find me once you get there…"

Numbers and letters began to appear on the screen and at one of the main computer panels as Marcus said this.

"Keep a low profile"

And with these words Marcus image disappeared from the screen.

"Zoness, it had, to be, Zoness" said Falco slowly and angrily

"Unfortunately" said Fox

Zoness, used to be a beautiful planet, very similar to Aquas, but during the war, the Venomian forces had captured and they used the seas as a toxic waste dump. Now that the planet was under supposed cleaning by the Cornerian authorities, it had become a hive for all sorts of criminals and low lifes. The guys of Star Fox wanted to find Marcus; they felt that for some reason, their problems would be solved because they had to do with him. But they were weary of confronting Bounty Hunters again.

Fox thought for a moment about his options, they could try to dock the Great Fox at another Naval Dock directly over Zoness, but the Cornerian military in Zoness was famous for its corruption scandals, Fox wasn't willing to take his friends through that risk. The other option was to disguise themselves and take a transport from nearby Aquas; this was the obviously smarter option.

"What's the plan, Fox?" asked Peppy…

X

The Great Fox was docked in Cornerian Navy Space Port at Aquas, Fox saw it through the window of the transport he was currently in and he could see it getting smaller and smaller.

"Don't worry Fox, will be back in no time, you'll see the Great Fox again" said Slippy to Fox

"I really hope so Slip"

The four Mercenaries were in a small, dirty room in a 4 hour transport to Zoness. The transport was going to arrive at midnight, very close to the place where Marcus was supposed to be waiting for them. The four of them were disguised; they each were covering their faces with special brown robes that many colonizers in Titania used to keep cool in the hot and dry Titanian desert. They really didn't look at all like Mercenaries and did look more like Titanian dark-matter miners. Each them had a blaster under the robes though.

"What place in Zoness are we exactly heading?" asked Falco

"Well, the coordinates take us to downtown Waltz, between the commercial and red-light districts" responded Slippy as he looked into his PDA

"Downtown Waltz eh, that place is not very dangerous but there is still a lot of scum around there" said Falco

"Still, I don't want any of you doing anything stupid" said Peppy

"We know Peppy" replied the three young mercenaries

X

After a couple of hours, the transport finally arrived to Waltz, Zoness. Waltz is a medium sized city near Zoness's equator; it floats over the Zoness Ocean, supported by hundreds of massive steel and reinforced concrete pillars that went half a kilometer down into the now toxic Zoness Western Sea. It had been the least affected city in Zoness during the war, and this turned it into the city that prospered the most after the end of the conflict, and also one of the most dangerous.

The group walked to the outside of the busy transport terminal in order to find a hover taxi that would take them downtown. It was a clear night and you could see Katina and Corneria far up in the sky. Their taxi driver didn't talk at all and he did not look suspicious whatsoever. They all got out exactly where Marcus had indicated them, at the intersection between the main street of the red-light district and the main street of the commercial district, two areas that were similar but not the same.

The group stayed around the sidewalk for a couple of minutes since they really didn't know what to do next. A couple of "Ladies of the Night" had come by asking the group if they wanted to "Have some fun tonight" the group obviously had to decline. After a couple of minutes waiting Slippy then whispered something to Fox.

"What do we do know Fox, we've been waiting for twenty minutes now"

"I'm not sure; Marcus just said that he would meet us here"

"I'm over here, on your left" said a voice in Fox's head

Fox looked left, at the other side of the street, and there was a hooded figure standing near a dark alley.

"I think I found him guys" said Fox

The other three looked at Fox and then they looked at the other side of street to also see the hooded figure. This individual motioned with his head for them to go to him. The four of them crossed the street and did notice that it was in fact Marcus under the hood. They could only see his mouth illuminated by the streetlights, Marcus smiled, and as the four mercenaries got closer to him they were able to see his eyes. When the four of them where standing right in front of Marcus he talked, just enough so that only the four of them could hear him, and always keeping his face in the shadow of his hood.

"It's great to see you guys, follow me, this place looks safe but it actually isn't"

The group of five began to walk down the street of the commercial district, Marcus was in front, next to him was Fox, behind them was Peppy and Slippy, while Falco was in the back.

Marcus turned right into a dark alley, between two small apartment buildings. They looked really run down, making Fox feel a little uneasy. Marcus walked through the alley and turned left to face a steel ladder. He began to climb it and motioned for the others to follow him. Fox decided to go last, making sure nobody was watching them. As Peppy began to climb, Fox took one last peek around the alley and then began to climb the ladder.

Fox climbed for almost four floors and put his right leg through an open window and into a lit room. He made sure he had a stable footing before going all the way in. The room was part of the living room of a medium sized apartment. It was well lit, and not small, but not large either.

"Hey Fox, lock the window" instructed Marcus

Fox did as he was told and proceeded to lock the window. The rest of the group began to gather around the small living room. Fox could clearly see Marcus's face now since he lowered his hood.

"So, you guys want to know why she is after you?" asked Marcus

"We know already, it's because we messed with her puny henchmen" responded Falco

"Yeah that's part of the problem, but it also has a little to do with an issue she had with Fox's father"

"My father?" thought Fox out loud

"Yes Fox, you see…"

Marcus was interrupted by a loud bang caused by the main door being brought down. Fox herd a small explosion and was blinded by a strong white flash. He and the rest of the group moaned in discomfort. Fox managed to see many silhouettes coming through the main door. He noticed that they were carrying weapons and they began to knock his teammates unconscious with them, soon, it was his turn and Fox blacked out.

X

Fox opened his eyes, his vision was blurred. He was lying on the floor and his surroundings were semi-dark, he slowly began to sit up and he heard a familiar voice coming from behind him.

"Glad you finally woke up Fox"

It was Falco, and Fox quickly looked behind him to see his good old friend, Falco was also sitting down.

"Falco, where are we?" Fox asked as he noticed that they were currently in a small seemingly door-less room.

"Queen Karoline's flagship and one of its cells"

"How do you know that?"

"I think you are going to get all your questions answered soon enough Fox"

Then, one of the steel walls of the room quickly opened up, and Marcus was thrown in harshly. The door was immediately shut once Marcus was inside.

"Fu:)ing assh***!" commented Marcus, "Oh Fox, your awake!"


How are you people of , I am finally back to writting. I am deeply sorry if anyone felt that the update took a really long time but I ran into alot of trouble while writting this chapter cause I really disliked how the story was going but I am determined to finish it. That being said, the story will probably only have 3 to 4 more chapters and should be finished sometime next year, don't expect quick updates because school is my main priority right now so yeah. Please review and enjoy what is left of this story, it would be greatly appreciated.