Chapter Fourteen
Evola was a bustling planet of indeterminate terrain, as most of its surface consisted of sprawling cityscapes. Perhaps it had once been a more appealing place to live before Pigma's arrival, but now its cities were wastelands of pollution, decrepit buildings and monorail lines, and vandalism. Pigma's men and mind-controlled Beljar soldiers patrolled the streets, arresting and terrorizing cititzens. Star Fox and Star Falco's ships weaved through the skyscrapers and crumbling structures of the city Polis.
"Scans indicate he should be in the Polis capitol building," said Fox.
"I expected a little more security than this," said Falco. No one had even attempted to stop them upon their arrival.
"He must know we're coming, and wants us to come to him. I guess we're worth something to him," said Kursed. They had to agree when they not only landed their ships at the capitol building with no issue, but also entered the building with minimum difficulty. Fox turned to Kursed. "Kursed, is there any way you can sense if General Felini is with Pigma?"
"I don't know, I'll try," she shut her eyes and concentrated. "I don't think so," she said after a moment. "If he is somewhere nearby, I imagine he is probably being held in a prisoner ward somewhere."
"Hang on a second, follow me," said Faye. They followed her to an abandoned office. "I noticed it was unlocked when we passed by it," she said, hitting a button that made the door slide open. It was an ordinary office, but Faye pointed to the computer on the desk. "I'm sure this must have some sort of internal directory," she said. "Miyu, you can probably hack into the program."
"Good thinking," said Katt. "Better hurry, though."
Miyu quickly went over and studied the computer, then began to hack into the system. "There! I think I found him," she said after a minute. "There's a prison unit located on the second sublevel…he's in block 1997 in Sector 7G."
"What about Pigma?" asked Fox. "Any idea on where we can find him?"
"If I had to guess…probably in the highest level, marked as 'classified'," she said drily.
Falco snorted. "Classified, my –"
"We'll need to split up," Fox cut him off. "Half of us will go and release General Felini, and take him back to the Falcon to help decode the file, the second party will go after Pigma."
"But won't that be dangerous, Fox?" asked Faye.
"Not necessarily. Kursed, I want you, Lucy, Hawkeye, and Faye to go after Felini. Me, Falco, Miyu, Scout, and Katt will go after Pigma."
"I don't know Fox," said Kursed. "I think I should swap with Miyu...or Scout. I've run into Pigma before, after all."
Fox had to smirk. Was Kursed jealous? "Kursed, Pigma is looking for you, it's less risky if you don't go running head on to him. Besides, I think your skills will be needed in raiding the prison unit, and you're the one with the plans."
Kursed didn't respond, but glared at him. "Listen, Fox, you're not my leader…" she started to say, but Lucy smiled and put her arm around her. "Come on Kursed, from what you told us about beating the snot out of Star Wolf not once, but twice, I doubt those prison guards will stand a chance."
"If there are any guards," said Scout. "You think they'd be after us by now. It's too quiet, it's making me a little nervous."
"Only one way to find out. Let's go team! Keep all comm. links on," said Fox. The teams prepared to part ways.
Kursed was suddenly overcome with a strange feeling. A bad feeling. She wasn't sure what it was, but…
"Good luck!" said Fox. The teams went on the move, Fox following Miyu.
"Fox! Wait," called Kursed. He turned around.
"What is it, Kursed?" he asked, sounding slightly irritated.
She went over, trying to take in what could very well be one last look at him, and then kissed him gently.
Fox stepped back, looking stunned but pleased. "What was that for?"
She sighed. "For luck," she said. "I just had a feeling- a bad one."
"What is it?"
She shook her head. "I don't know…I'm still having trouble with my perception and feelings, it's been so long."
He put a reassuring hand on her arm. "You did great calling me over to Jericho. I could feel what you were feeling, I knew what you needed…I thought I may have even heard your voice. Maybe you're on to something. If you feel like anything is going to happen, or there's trouble, just do that again, okay?"
She nodded. "I will. But I have to tell you Fox…I'm not sure what it means yet, but it feels almost like…one of us might not make it."
*
"Well, Star Wolf, where is she now?" Professor Andorf's pitch black eyes bored through Wolf. Wolf returned the intense gaze with confidence.
"She's off to collect Star Fox. She'll bring Fox to you, and besides Kursed, you can have your revenge on Fox McCloud, just like you've always wanted."
"I see…what makes you so certain she'll return here?"
"Fox can't resist an opportunity to rid the galaxy of another one of Andross's brethren, and Kursed will follow because one, she'll want answers, and two, she still loves Fox."
"We are giving you more than you asked for," said Leon. "We are giving you Kursed, and Star Fox and Star Falco."
"If you're asking for a larger reward, I'll have to see if this plan works as you assume it will," Professor Andorf cocked his head at them. "You may have just let them slip through your fingers. There is still also the chance that Pigma could take them all down."
Wolf snorted. "You overestimate Pigma."
"Perhaps you overestimate yourselves," Professor Andorf snapped. "Don't overstep your bounds just to try and get more than you were hired for. You are to follow my orders. I already have the power to make things go my way, more power than you realize."
Wolf nodded briskly. "Yes, there is a lot about you that we realize, we do not underestimate your powers."
Professor Andorf whirled around and marched out of the hangar bay. "You bring her straight to me when she arrives," he said, not bothering to turn his head to look back at them as he said this.
*
Kursed, Lucy, Hawkeye, and Faye approached the prison ward. "Freeze!" ordered a vacant-eyed hound dog. "You are not authorized to be on this level!"
Faye and Hawkeye drew their blasters, but Kursed stopped them. She shut her eyes and focused on the guard. His own mind was reading as a series of impulses, his own brain activity dulled by them. This had to be the mind control. She tried to read him through the interference. He was weak-willed, perhaps, but still of a good nature. She concentrated on that and began to feel it more strongly…but the impulses became too distracting, and that finally broke the connection between their minds.
"If you don't…state your business…I must…" the guard sounded confused and fumbled with his blaster. Lucy stunned him.
"Kursed, what did you do?" she asked. "For a second he looked, well, not like one of Pigma's brainwashed slaves. And he looked confused, like he had no idea where he was or what he was doing. Almost like you broke through the mind-control."
"Really," Kursed thought about this. "I tried to read his thoughts, but mostly I got interference. Something Fox said earlier got me thinking…if I try to read their thoughts, perhaps I can send out thoughts of my own to the people that are being brainwashed by Pigma or Andorf or whoever it is, and counteract it. I think it might have worked."
Faye nodded but nudged them ahead. "It's a great thought, and keep it in mind, but right now we need to keep moving. More guards will probably be coming."
"Right," said Lucy. They moved forward, quickly but carefully. The prison unit was like a maze, they made sure to carefully track their steps. "When we pulled the cell block code from the computer, we probably should have pulled the map information as well," Hawkeye pointed out.
The girls looked at each other, embarrassed by the obvious oversight. "Well, you should have mentioned that when we were at the computer," Faye replied.
Hawkeye snickered. "I think Miyu is starting to rub off on you."
"Sector 7G- we're in the right area. Cell block 1997should be down this way," Lucy pointed them in the right direction. They reached cell 1997 and Kursed entered the code to unlock the door. It slid open, revealing a run down and defeated looking tom cat laying against wall and staring at the ceiling. General Felini's head slowly looked towards the door.
"You tell Pigma…I don't have anything else to give him…I have nothing," he said weakly. Lucy and Kursed moved into the cell while Faye and Hawkeye covered the entrance. Lucy knelt beside him.
"General Felini, I am Lucy Hare, daughter of Cornerian General Peppy Hare. I am here with teams Star Fox and Star Falco. We are here to rescue you, and we need your help in return. The plans that were intercepted from Brea were not the original files that were put in the computer system. Our brave ally, Kursed," she gestured to her, "was able to obtain the true copy, but we are having trouble decoding it."
"The plans? The plans have been intercepted…"
"Yes Felini, by us. I have taken them from Star Wolf, they were the ones who took the true plans, to try and prevent Star Fox from succeeding. And now we must hurry up and get out of here before- "
Kursed was cut off a by a loud siren. "Colonel Grey, be ready with the Falcon at the exterior of the capitol building," Lucy called into her comm. link. "We have the General now, but an alarm has been tripped. I don't know how much longer they'll let us get away with this."
*
Fox, Falco, Katt, Scout, and Miyu were taking an elevator up to the capitol building's top level. Scout was beginning to look very edgy. "Really, this is just weird how no one is coming after us," he grumbled.
"Calm down, Scout," Katt said in a low voice. She was used to him getting worked up whenever he got suspicious of something. Fox was nervous himself, he didn't like how Pigma was making this seem almost too easy either. Pigma wasn't the smartest guy in the galaxy, but he was ruthless when it came to getting something that benefitted him. Just ask Fox's father. With that thought, Fox was filled with a renewed anger towards Pigma. He was ready for him. Falco looked over at Fox and nodded. "I can't wait to give that walking scrap heap what he deserves!" he said, understanding how Fox felt.
They found themselves on the top level, in a sprawling, high tech room. Fox rolled his eyes as Pigma rose from a chair that was obviously meant to look like some sort of throne. Falco wondered who Pigma thought he was kidding. He had been restored roughly to the size he had been before the Aparoid infestation, perhaps a bit bulkier due to the fact that he was still mostly machine. They held their blasters at the ready.
"Fox McCloud, Falco Lombardi, long time no see," he drawled. "Now where is Kursed? I know she is with you."
"What does it matter?" said Fox. "She's worth more to us than she'll ever be worth to you."
"That's sweet Fox, but I doubt that. She's got a good price on her head. Even if Andorf doesn't want her anymore, there's plenty of other people in the galaxy that want her dead," he looked at Katt. "Or, how about I take this cute little kitty? Even if you don't read minds, I'm sure you're good at something." He licked his lips and reached for her. Katt yelped as his cold, greasy hands wrapped around her arm.
"Don't you dare touch her!" Falco yelled, firing at him with his blaster. Pigma laughed, but before he could attack Falco, Kursed's voice came over Fox's comm. link. "Fox, we have the General but somebody tripped the security alarm. We're being pursued. The Falcon is waiting for us out front, we'll be taking Felini directly to it to start on the codes."
"Who set the alarms?" growled Pigma. "There was supposed to be no attacks unless I said so!" He picked up his own comm. link. "Sergeant LeMur, why is the security alert going off in the prisoner unit?"
"It's Bassett, Master! It's almost like he's gone crazy, he says he doesn't know why or how he did it!"
"I have to do everything myself!" he slung his comm. link to the floor. He glared at Fox. "As much fun as it would be to kill you right now, Kursed is more valuable." He hit a button and a large hatch in the roof slid open. Suddenly, his shape began to shift.
"Stand back!" Fox shouted as Pigma's mechanical body began to expand.
"Get to your ships!" Falco ordered as Pigma transformed into an enormous, hulking robot that could easily crush the team like ants. They had just barely made it out of the room and into the elevator as the blast from Pigma's jets demolished the top floor of the capitol building.
*
Kursed, Lucy, Faye, Hawkeye, and General Felini ran through the maze-like prison ward. Or rather, Lucy and Faye dragged Felini along as they ran while Kursed and Hawkeye held off their pursuers
"What is that?!" called Bill from the comm. link. "There's been some sort of explosion from the top floor! I think…what the…"
"Bill! What's going on?" said Lucy desperately.
"Pigma has left the building!"
"Fox! No! They have to be…" Kursed desperately tried calling for Fox, but there was no answer.
"We have to keep moving," Hawkeye advised. They managed to make their way out of the ward and into the elevator, still being pursued by guards. They fought their way to the ground level and ran towards the Falcon, where they boarded with General Felini. "We must go back to the landing bay and get our ships," said Faye, as the giant pig mech in the sky caught sight of them.
"Hurry!" urged Slippy as Pigma prepared to fire at them. As they lowered the ship to the landing bay, Kursed was flooded with relief as Fox's voice came over. "Kursed! Are you guys okay?"
"Fox, oh thank God, I heard there was an explosion, and then you didn't answer your comm. link, I thought…"
"We're fine, we're about to reach the landing bay to get our ships and go after that slimeball."
They reached the landing bay at the same time. Kursed couldn't help herself, she ran over to Fox, embracing him. She was relieved, yet still couldn't shake that awful feeling. He hugged her back quickly, then stepped away. A powerful blast from Pigma blew away part of the docking bay, they dove to the ground for cover. "Let's go!" he said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before hopping into his ship.
They raced after Pigma, speeding and weaving between buildings. Pigma, however, took out anything that got in his way. Part of it may have been due the enormity of his structure, but it was also due in part to his lack of regard for anyone other than himself.
"Come on, lead the way!" he cackled. "I want you to take me to Professor Andorf!"
"You'll have to kill me before I tell you anything!" said Kursed.
Pigma snarled and fired a blast in their direction. "Don't be stupid! You can't beat me! I'm giving you the chance to live!"
Kursed hesitated, then headed towards the atmosphere.
"What is she doing?" Miyu said in a panic. Was Kursed about to betray them again?
"Let's follow her," said Fox. He had a feeling he knew what she was up to.
*
On the Falcon, Lucy and General Felini were on a video transmission with Peppy. Now that Felini had been given some water and a nourishment capsule, he became a bit more alert. He waited for the plans to load up, then frowned as the encrypted file came up. "I have never seen this code before," he said, trying to decipher it. "Ms. Hare, do you have the other file?" She handed it to him. He studied it, then put it in the drive. "That's what I thought," he said as he skimmed through the older readouts. "These are the ones that my intelligence team and I intercepted and planted in the computer."
"So what are these, then?"
He looked at the other file carefully. "These are almost the same alright, but it's a larger file, it must have additional information, that they didn't want us to see. Someone must have known we were coming for them and altered and swapped out the plans."
"That's what we thought," said Lucy, gritting her teeth. "Damn Star Wolf."
Felini pointed at Lucy's comm. link. "Do you mind if I borrow that?" he asked. "I will contact my intelligence team, perhaps we can still decode it."
*
They were back in the Evola orbital, Kursed trying to stall for time, hoping that would give Felini the time he needed to decode the final readouts, the ones she hoped gave a key to Pigma's weakness.
"So the stories are true then, Kursed. You really have become a cold-hearted bitch, willing to let Fox die to save your own skin," Pigma said with delight. "No wonder Professor Andorf thinks you'll be the perfect weapon for him…or for me!"
"You shouldn't believe everything you hear, Pigma, or believe that I would let Fox die to help YOU!" she turned her ship to face him and fired. The rest of the team emerged from the atmosphere, ready to take Pigma down.
"Take me to Professor Andorf, or all of your friends will die!" Pigma screamed.
"If we go down, we're taking you with us!" replied Falco.
Their ships swarmed around Pigma, firing at him and dodging his hits. His strong firepower and size were the perfect combination with his natural ruthlessness. Pigma was merciless, firing with a devil-may-care pace and swinging at ships with his giant arms to bat them away. One arm struck Miyu, destroying her wing and causing massive damage, forcing her to go back to the Falcon.
At least she didn't die out there, Fox couldn't help thinking, remembering Kursed's ominious feeling. He fired with a mad fury at Pigma.
"Lucy, any luck with encrypting those files?" asked Kursed. "I don't know how much longer we can hold him." Scout had also had to return to the Falcon after he got a direct hit from one of Pigma's shots.
"We're trying to Kursed, but these aren't the files he intercepted. They were given the wrong files in the first place."
She cursed Star Wolf under her breath. She dodged a stray blast and focused on Pigma, trying to search in him for a weak point.
"Hang on guys, I just saw something, I think I got it!" Falco's excited voice broke her concentration. "Back off, Fox, let me through."
"Falco! Wait! Don't get cocky!" said Katt. Falco, of course, didn't listen.
Pigma laughed, swinging his massive arm down at Fox. Fox readied himself for the heavy impact, but instead felt a collision from the side, flinging his ship away from Pigma. "Falco, watch it, what are you- " Fox said.
"I'm not letting you take another McCloud, you bastard!" Falco yelled at Pigma, looping underneath his arm.
"Then I'll just have you!"
Pigma's giant mechanical hands wrapped around Falco's ship. "Too late Pig- I gotcha!" was the last thing that Fox heard Falco say over the voice com. Falco fired and there was a burst of flame on his chest. Pigma let out a squeal and suddenly stopped in action and began to slowly spin, smoke and fire beginning to emit from him. Katt cheered.
"Back off guys, he's gonna blow!" called Scout.
"Hurry up Falco, get out of there!" shouted Fox. Falco was still trapped in Pigma's grasp, struggling to break free. Fox and Katt fired at Pigma's hands, hoping to blow them loose.
"Fox, Katt, come on!" Miyu yelled. Fox barely jetted out of the way in time as Pigma exploded into a ball of raging fire.
"No!" Katt let out an anguished scream that ripped Fox's heart in two. He turned his ship, he didn't care that the intensity from the brightness of the explosion burned his eyes, he watched intently, unblinking. He was waiting for Falco to come bursting out of the chaos, making some corny wise crack about Pigma's bacon being cooked or something. Falco had always come back for his team. But the fire was slowly burning itself out and there was no sign of him. But just maybe…
"Kursed," Fox asked. "Do you think…did Falco make it out of there?"
Kursed was silent for a moment. "I'm sorry, Fox," she said regretfully.
The last glimmer of hope inside of Fox burned out with the fire. He turned his ship to the Falcon. He wasn't sure whether the stinging and blurring of his vision was from staring at the explosion or from tears threatening to escape, but it didn't matter. Falco Lombardi was gone.