Chapter 11: Mark the Graves

Part 4: Epitaph

The second the elevator reached the top floor, Krystal forced the doors open and led their group out into the research facility. They did as Slippy said and kept left until they came across a closet filled with drawers and shelves of medical equipment. The amphibian gave them the general area where they'd locate the blood transfuser, and Falco eventually opened one of the drawers to discover a full pile of them. He returned to Phoenix and Krystal carrying a transparent syringe with two thin tubes tipped with needles, exactly as Slippy had described it.

"Hey, uh, look, Miss Meinhard," Falco began, stumbling for words, "We've got to take some of your blood."

Upon hearing his words, Kitty looked down and focused on Phoenix's shoulders.

"We don't want to, it's just that.. we'll die if you don't give it to us. You understand?"

Kitty nodded, then asked, "Phoenix will die, too?"

"Phoenix, too," Falco answered. "All of us. I understand that they must have done a lot of experiments on you, and that needles probably aren't your favorite thing in the world, are they?"

Reluctantly, Kitty slipped down Phoenix's back and stood in the middle of their group. "It's fine; needles don't bother me anymore."

Falco gave her a weak smile, then patted her on the back. "Good girl. Now, Slippy, I need you to calculate how much blood we need to take."

"I've already done that... and I've got some more bad news."

"God, what is it this time, Frogger?" Krystal moaned in annoyance.

"You each need 150 milliliters of her blood. But, if all three of you take that amount... she won't make it. A girl her age can't lose that much blood. It'll kill her."

Krystal immediately reached for the transfuser. "Gimme the blood thingy, Falco. Well, it's been nice knowing you, Princess, but know it's time to say goodbye."

"You gotta be freaking kidding me!" Phoenix said, angrily. "Didn't you hear Slippy? You can't take her blood; she'll die!"

"Sucks to be her, doesn't it?" Krystal spat back. "Now give me the brat."

Once again, Phoenix stepped in between Krystal and Kitty.

"No! You can't put your own life before a child's! We've got to protect her!"

"Well excuse me Mr. Cornerian Military! I wasn't aware you were a soldier who wanted to protect the innocent! If that's the case, you joined the wrong fucking bounty-hunting group! We're not soldiers; we work for ourselves and ourselves only! Nothing else matters besides our own survival. I don't know about you, but I ain't trading my life for some snot-nosed rich-kid brat!"

Falco had been quiet the entire time, instead choosing to stand back with his arms folded. His stance didn't go unnoticed by Phoenix, who decided to enlist help from the self-appointed team leader.

"Falco, what do you think?" the vulpine asked him, desperately.

"Phoenix..." the falcon began with a pained voice, "Krystal may be selfish bitch, but she's on the right side of the argument. We have to prioritize our team over everything else, and right now, that girl dies, or all three of us die. To me, the scales seem rather tipped. Look, if you don't want to, then... then I guess that's up to you. But you can't deny Krystal and me the chance to live."

Phoenix glanced down at Kitty, so small and fragile on the floor behind him...

"Then I guess I'll just go without it. Take her blood and live... but leave me out."

Krystal's eyes bulged, and her hands flew to her hips, indignantly. "What!? You can't be serious! That... that means you'll die!"

"That's right," Falco stated in a low voice, "It's his decision, and I'll respect it."

"Well I can't!" Krystal nearly shouted. "Give me the fucking transfuser, Falco. Phoenix is going to be the first one to get the cure!"

"I said NO!" Phoenix reaffirmed, "I'm not taking this girl's blood."

"Krystal," Falco said as he withheld the transfuser from her, "If Phoenix is going to accept your decision to take her blood, you have to accept his decision not to. Okay?"

Krystal stopped struggling for the blood transfuser and stepped back, eyes watering.

"No... no, you have to take it! You'll die if you don't! Phoenix listen to me, you'll die! Whose gonna be there for... for... who's gonna protect Kitty and get her to her father?"

"Of course I will," Phoenix stated, "Even if it's the last thing I do. It will be worth it."

"No... no. No-no-no-no... You have to take it! You can't leave me again!"

Out of nowhere, Krystal began to shake, prompting Falco to grab her shoulders and force her to face him.

"Krystal, look at me; calm down. Get a hold of yourself! We're going to get through this. We'll find a way. Maybe Phoenix can take the blood later, when the girl's recovered enough. But right now we just have to accept this and move on, you got it?"

Krystal stared into Falco's eyes for a few moments, her own eyes glassy and trembling. Finally, she blinked and pulled away, crossing her arms over her chest. "What... whatever. Just get on with it already."

"Slippy, how much do we need again?"

"150 milliliters is the safest amount."

"We'll take 120."

"What!?"

Phoenix stepped aside, allowing Falco to approach Kitty. Kneeling down, he reached for her arm. "You ready, Kitty?"

The Siberian kitten looked up at Phoenix for guidance, who nodded encouragingly. Suddenly resolute and determined, she produced a pale white arm from Phoenix's coat. After rolling up his sleeve, Falco inserted one needle into the crook of his elbow, and the other into Kitty's. The feline bit her lip as a thin, dark stream of blood began seeping through the transfuser and into Falco's arm. After he measured out 120 milliliters, the avian pulled the needle out of his arm and motioned for Krystal to sit down beside him. Rather reluctantly, Krystal complied and rolled up her own sleeve.

As Falco inserted the needle into her arm, she cracked a faint smile and joked, "What if I'm the wrong blood type?"

"I don't think you're even the right species," Falco answered.

After a long period of radio silence, Slippy piped up. "The blood doesn't matter. Your cardiovascular system will initially reject it, but the antidote should still get through."

"Well, that's a relief," Krystal muttered.

This time, Falco measured out 130 milliliters of blood before removing both needles and wrapping up the transfuser. Suddenly, Kitty's head began to nod, and she fell against Phoenix, almost limp.

The fox caught her and asked worriedly, "You sure you didn't take too much?"

Falco shook his head. "She's just feeling a little faint after loosing so much blood. Just keep carrying her, and she'll be fine."

As Phoenix lifted Kitty onto his back again, he asked, "Hey Slippy, how much longer before I... how much time do I have left?"

"The estimates they give are pretty rough. Not more than four hours after contact... so maybe one or two more hours?"

Phoenix slowly released his breath. "Well, that sounds like long enough."

Without asking, Falco stuffed the transfuser into one of Phoenix's pockets. "Hey, keep it for later, okay? Maybe if something goes wrong... just to be safe."

Phoenix glanced at Falco, then at Krystal, nodding to her. "Alright; lead the way."

Krystal cast one last forlorn look at Phoenix before turning her back and slipping out the door.

After retracing the rest of their footsteps back to the loading bay, the three members of the Hunting Party slid to a stop underneath the wide entrance. A warning call rang out across the room, and several units of Cornerian troops sprang into action, prepared to do anything to keep the intruders from escaping. As the gas mask-wearing soldiers opened fire, Krystal lead Falco and Phoenix behind a pile of shipping crates for cover. Every few seconds, the vixen or avian would poke their heads out and fire off a few shots to keep the guards occupied.

"How are we gonna get out?" Krystal hissed, ducking back down behind a crate filled with microwavable food. "We can't take the main platform like we did getting in; we can't operate it, and even if we got on the elevator, there's no cover – we'd be sitting ducks!"

Falco crawled to the other side of the pile of crates, assessing the contents of the room.

"There's a stairway that leads to the surface on the left wall, but there are a couple of soldiers in the way. Krystal, you stay here and cover us. I'll take Phoenix around the corner and along the left wall. Once we get close to the guards, lob a smoke grenade into their position, and I'll take care of them in close quarters. As soon as you see us go into the smoke screen, run along the same path we took and discourage the rest of the guards from following us. Got it?"

Krystal nodded and waved her gun towards the exit. "Okay-okay! Just go!"

Falco dove and rolled from their current position to another stack of crates along the left wall, firing as he went. As soon as he was safely across, Phoenix ran with some difficulty across the open space, conscious of Kitty on his back. Several of the Cornerians left their cover to fire at him, but Falco and Krystal now occupied two of the four walls, giving them two different angles to provide cross fire from and effectively deter any attempt made on Phoenix and Kitty. As the Cornerians were driven back behind cover and forced to change their positions, Phoenix made it safely to Falco's side.

"You okay, Kitty?" he whispered over his shoulder.

The only answer he received was the cat's soft breath against his ear, tickling like a feather.

Falco grabbed his arm and motioned towards an empty supply cart. "We're moving to that cart next! You push and I'll cover us; we can take it all the way to the coffins."

"Got it," Phoenix acknowledged, immediately catching on to Falco's plan.

After a break in the laser bolts striking the other side of their cover, Falco and Phoenix scrambled to get behind the supply cart. Once there, Phoenix squatted down and, with some effort, began wheeling the cart towards their next line of cover; a stack of empty plastic coffins. As Phoenix slowly guided the cart, Falco crouched in front and fired over the rim. The cart took several hits of its own, each one making Phoenix flinch and hunker down further.

After a tedious minute, they reached the stack of coffins and left the cart behind. Just on the other side of the black plastic cases were the stairs to the surface, but also two Cornerian guards standing in their way. As planned, Krystal lobbed a smoke grenade from their original position towards the entrance to the stairs. The grenade bounced twice on the floor with two metallic "clinks" before rolling to a stop at the feet of the unlucky guards. Before the gas-masked Cornerians could react, the grenade released a large cloud of smoke into the air, obscuring both the guards and the exit.

Falco took his cue and dove into the cloud of smoke, with Phoenix and Kitty close behind. Phoenix had to squint his eyes upon entering the screen, as the fumes of smoke stung his eyes. All the vulpine could see were the silhouettes of two figures struggling against each other in the smoke. One – which he soon identified as Falco – easily gained the upper hand, swatting the soldier's gun away and dealing him a swift kick to the gut. But where is the other guard?

Just in time, Phoenix turned to find the black form of the second guard coming towards him, curls of white smoke rolling off of his figure. At first, the sight of the Cornerian's mask froze Phoenix in fear. The enemy stared out at the vulpine through two glass circles of eyes, dark and empty. A dark, chrome canister protruded from the left side of the mask's jaw, constantly filtering through the air and emitting an ominous, artificial breathing sound. Then, when Phoenix noticed the blaster glowing in the guard's hand, he sprang back into action.

It was awkward fighting with Kitty on his back, but he managed. Before the soldier could recognize Phoenix, the vulpine grabbed his gun and forced it to the side. The pair fought for control of the gun, leaning from side to side as they struggled to aim its barrel at each other.

Realizing he had no hope of overpowering the Cornerian, Phoenix ducked down to the ground with one swift movement, allowing the soldier to push the gun in his direction with more force than he had intended too. The guard fell over his back and sprawled on the floor, nearly knocking Kitty off in the process, but Phoenix let go of the gun and tightly held onto her. Quickly standing up, he drew his own blaster and shot the guard in the side before he could even recover. He felt a pang of regret, but lost the feeling immediately as Falco grabbed his arm again.

"You're both alive? Good! Now get to the stairs. Hurry!"
Phoenix bumbled awkwardly through the smoke until he found the wall which he followed it to the entrance of the stairs. Finally, he entered the stairwell and began climbing towards the surface. With each step he took, the colder the air grew, but also the clearer it became. With a feeling of relief, he opened his eyes fully after squinting so long and deeply breathed in the clean air. When he reached the top, he found a large steel door blocking the exit. He jammed his fist against the lock button on the side of the door, changing the light above from red to green. Then, pressing all his weight against it, he pushed the door outwards.

A flood of white light nearly blinded him as the door cracked opened, followed by a large gust of snow and wind howling louder than a jet engine. When the opening was wide enough, Phoenix stepped out into the Fichinan landscape, but his foot found no ground, and he instead fell face first into several feet of snow.

As soon as he came into contact with the frigid flakes of ice, Phoenix immediately felt his entire body break into shivers. He had previously given his coat to Kitty, who now wore it while clinging to his back, leaving Phoenix just a pair of insulated flight pants and a long sleeve shirt that did nothing to keep the biting air out.

Struggling to his feet, Phoenix wondered why the door was positioned so high above the ground until he realized the extra height would ensure the door was never stuck behind a wall of snow.

Upon turning around, Phoenix watched as both Falco and Krystal jumped out of the stairwell and landed on either side of him.

"Go-go-go!" Falco urged him as he and Krystal took off running.

"We left them a little surprise with the extra explosives we had," Krystal explained, grabbing Phoenix's free arm and pulling him away from the morgue's entrance.

Before the trio made it over the next snow bank, an explosion rocked the earth beneath their feet and the top of the stairwell was blown off by a fiery burst of gas. Burning bits of rubble rained down on the surrounding area, dotting the snowscape with debris.

Still, this did not dissuade their enemies, as the soldiers emerged from the burning stairwell only moments later.

"Dammit," Krystal cursed as she raised her handguns and began picking the guards off from a distance.

"Alright, slight change of plans," Falco said, flustered. "Krystal, you and I will stay here and hold them off. Phoenix: you take Kitty and meet up with Slippy as fast as you can. After he picks you up, he can come get us."

Phoenix nodded, panting in the frigid air before turning around and running through the snow in the opposite direction. Behind him, he heard Krystal's gunshots rattle off one by one accompanied by the sound of Falco and the Cornerians' blasters.

As soon as he took off, he raised his wrist comm to his face and sent a message to Slippy, so thankful that after their brief mission on Zoness Krystal had elected to give him a communicator.

"Slippy, do you read me? It's Phoenix."

"Loud and clear, Phoenix. What's your status?"

"We're all outside the compound. Falco sent me ahead while he and Krystal stay back closer to the base. I've got Kitty with me, so you should pick us up first."

"Alright, I'll bring the Great Fox to get you."

"And Slippy... hurry, will ya? I'm out here without a coat, and it's freezing. I don't know how long Kitty and I will last. I'm sure she'll get pneumonia, or worse."

"Ha ha... and you won't?"

Phoenix didn't answer for a minute, instead tramping through the snow in silence.

"Hello? Phoenix?"

"No. I won't."

"Aaaalright... well, in that case, I'll see you soon. Slippy out."

As his communication link with Slippy ended, Phoenix thought to himself, What am I doing? Am I... am I really going to die?

His heart began to beat faster, both from exertion and from fear.

Eventually, Phoenix lost track of time.

It seemed he had been marching for hours in the icy Fichinan tundra, and he felt almost frozen to the bone. The pure white landscape wasn't much to look at, and Kitty still seemed too weak to talk, so Phoenix was left to his internal thoughts. As he trudged up and downhill through the stinging sea of snow, his mind kept returning to the images of the two guards he had shot – the first clutching his stomach and falling into the abyss, the second with the gas mask, shot in the back. Both times, the gun shaking in his hands. They refused to go away, along with the other images that haunted his mind's eye. Krystal breaking down after coming across a random coffin, then after Phoenix had made up his mind to die and let the girl live. Kitty... floating in the pool of blue reservation liquid, tubes and wires extending from her body like some jellyfish or spider, her wondering eyes as she looked to him for guidance, her white, frail arm with a small stream of blood being stolen from it. And now she was clinging weakly to his back, silent.

Finally, he replayed the scene of Meinhard asking, "You're not a real bounty hunter, are you?"

The corners of his vision flickered, and he felt his eyelids drooping. He was going to die, he knew that much. If not from the cold, from the strange disease Andross's scientists had developed. He was freezing, weak, and strangely tired – it felt as if his mind was slipping away from him.

So this is what it's like to be close to death.

After a few more minutes, his legs gave out, and he fell into the ocean of snow. He tried to lift himself back up, but his arms gave out. He could go no further. Phoenix's only hope was for Slippy or Falco and Krystal to find him – and find him soon. Otherwise, Kitty would die as well.

There was a sudden series of movements behind his back, and Kitty crawled over his side to be in front of him.

"Phoenix? Are... are you okay?"

Up to this point in his life, Phoenix had always wondered why adults so often lied to their children. Now... he understood.

"I'll be fine. I'm just a little tired, that's all."

"It's so cold... I can't stay awake."

"No, you have to stay awake. Whatever you do, don't fall asleep. Just keep talking." Phoenix put his arms around Kitty's small, shivering form and pulled her tightly against his chest. He felt a surge of warmth from her body, and knew that she must feel the same.

"Am I dying?" Kitty asked.

"No, of course not," Phoenix said.

"This is how I felt before they put me to sleep."

Slowly, Phoenix's mind seemed to be slipping away from him, sucked away by the cold wall of snow and air surrounding him.

"No... no, don't sleep. Don't fall asleep."

"I think I'm dying."

"No you're not," Phoenix repeated. "Don't... fall... asleep."

"Aren't you cold?" the cat asked.

"A little."

Kitty snuggled against him. "The others said you needed my blood to live... the one with blue fur really didn't want you to die."

"I'll be fine without it. We've... we've got to get you to your father."

"You're lying, aren't you?" she asked.

"No, I – "

"I can tell when you're lying. You gave me you're coat, and you won't take my blood. You don't want me to die... but I don't want you to, either."

"We just have to wait," Phoenix persisted. "A great big ship is coming to pick us up... it won't be much longer."

Without asking, Kitty threw the left side of her coat over Phoenix's side and covered him with it.

"Here, you'll freeze without it. I'm use to the freezing, before the sleep. I know if I fall asleep, I'll just wake up again. They froze me and put me to sleep, but you woke me up. You'll just wake me up again, won't you?"

Phoenix felt a sinking sensation in his heart and stomach. Kitty was right; she was going to die. The cold was getting to her, and there was nothing he could do about it.

"Phoenix... I want you to live. They said you would die if you didn't take any of my blood. The blue one... she loves you... like mommy loved daddy. She looks at you like daddy looks at mommy's pictures."

Phoenix choked on a sob, and tears began to fill his eyes.

"When mommy died, daddy was really sad. I don't want the blue girl to feel like that. Please, take my blood. I don't need it anymore."

Phoenix couldn't hold back any longer; the salty tears began to slip down his face and freeze to his cheeks. "Kitty, I-I can't."

"If I'm going to sleep, I want to know that you're alive. Please, you have to take it. You have to."

The vulpine tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but he couldn't. He was freezing, he was crying, his vision was failing him, both he and Kitty were dying, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He was powerless to save Kitty no matter what he did, but it would be senseless to die with her. She was trying to convince him of that.

Phoenix had a hard time accepting it, but finally he gave in.

Reluctantly, he slipped his hand into his pocket and produced the transfuser, the instrument trembling in his hands. Under the cover of his winter coat, he unwrapped the plastic tubes and gingerly placed one end into the vein in his arm, just as he had watched Falco do it. Then, taking ahold of Kitty's arm, he whispered, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," before carefully pressing it into her vein.

He worked the pump end of the syringe while staring at the counter, struggling to read it as his vision was slowly going black. "I'm sorry, Kitty," he kept repeating as he watched the blood flow between their arms. Finally, he was able to make out how much blood he had taken, and he removed the needles from their arms. He drew Kitty closer to himself and kept repeating his apology over and over again, sobbing. "I'm so sorry..."

Slowly, her body went as cold as the snow surrounding him.

This time, Laurence the bodyguard let them pass immediately.

Phoenix lead the way into Meinhard's greeting room, carrying the small white body wrapped tightly in his coat, still as ice.

The gray Siberian cat rushed over to the vulpine, carefully lifting the bundle out of his arms. After removing the folds of the coat to reveal Kitty's serene, peaceful face, tears sprang to the feline's eyes once again.

"Thank you... thank you so much," he whispered. "You know how relieved I am to finally have her back."

This time around, the mood was so somber that even Krystal withheld her inappropriate comments.

Cradling the dead body in his arms, Meinhard asked, "Did you... did you ever find out why they withheld her from me?"

For a minute, none of the Hunting Party spoke. Then, clearing his throat, Falco explained, "The uh... pirates had taken her to one of Andross's research centers. She contracted a highly dangerous disease they had developed, and died."

At this lie, Phoenix clenched his fists and felt a strong urge to speak up, but he held his tongue. He understood that it would be bad for the team if Kitty's father knew she hadn't actually been dead, but they had let her die anyway.

"The Cornerians kept her body preserved so they could study the effects. That's why they never let you have Kitty back – she was too valuable to them. It's sickening, when you think about it, but they were going to use her to bolster their bio-weapons supply. We uh... decontaminated her with our ship's facilities, so the disease she had isn't contagious anymore."

"We're sorry for your loss," Slippy concluded, looking at the floor.

"Yeah," Krystal agreed, rubbing her arm.

"I... appreciate your concern," the Siberian cat said, thanking them. "Now please, I would like a moment alone with her. Laurence will see to it that you're paid."

"Thank you, sir," Falco said. The avian turned and headed out the door, and the rest of his team followed. But before Phoenix could leave, the feline called him back.

"You, fox; wait."

Phoenix stopped in the doorway and turned.

"I want to have a word with you."

Phoenix glanced back at his teammates, but Falco nodded for him to comply. The vulpine shut the door behind him, then took a seat in front of Meinhard.

"You faltered the last time we saw each other, when I asked if you were actually a bounty hunter or not. I trust you have given it some more thought?"

Phoenix nodded, slowly. "The question's kinda stuck with me, sir."

Meinhard sat down opposite him on the couch, carefully holding Kitty's limp body. "So... why did you become one?"

"It was... in the spur of the moment, I guess. We just happened to run into each other, during one of their missions. I was just... bored... so I tagged along for the ride. One of them got drunk and invited me on the team. I've just stuck with them ever since. It's been exciting, most of the time. But I don't like killing people – even in self defense. Even to save your girl."

Phoenix lifted his head to look Meinhard in the eye. "You're daughter's the only person I've ever killed for, sir."

Meinhard gave him a pathetic chuckle. "Seems like a waste to kill for someone who's already dead."

Phoenix paused for a moment, debating internally. He looked down at the floor again, searching for the courage to speak up.

"She wasn't dead, sir. Not when we found her."

At the vulpine's admission, Meinhard said, "I knew you weren't like them. Please, tell me what happened. I think I should know. And if you're afraid it will endanger your group's contract; relax, they have already fulfilled it. This is just for my own sake now."

Phoenix sighed. "The Cornerians put her into hibernation like we told you, but she wasn't dead. When we unfroze her body, she was alive. But unfreezing her also released the biochemicals in her body, and my friends and I were infected. The only cure was to take her blood... and we all ended up doing it. We would have died otherwise."

"I see... and how did you become so attached to her? I can see it in your eyes. You came back changed from this mission."

"I just... felt sorry for her. She was so sweet – she didn't deserve any of what happened to her. I carried her around for a while, and ended up killing for the first time to protect her. At first I refused to take her blood, but then... we got back to the surface and went on alone back to our ship, but we nearly froze to death. She told me to take her blood, because she knew people would be sad if I died. She mentioned you mourning for your wife..."

Meinhard went silent for a minute, seemingly lost in thought.

"Thank you, Mr... what's your name?"

"Just call me Phoenix, sir."

"Thank you, Phoenix, for being honest with me. You've really done a service by staying with my daughter in her last moments."

"I... I wish I could thank her, too."

"Hmm? Why?"

"Your daughter showed me the reason I'm still a bounty hunter."

A/N: Yay for Graduation! Wahoooo! Sorry for ruining the mood...