CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The Prison Planet
March 9th, 2057
In orbit above Planet Kew
In all their years, this form of the Star Fox team knew practically nothing about the planet Kew. It wasn't on any official map of the Lylat System (likely because it wasn't technically in the Lylat System as it was floating just outside of it) and nobody ever really seemed to talk about it. Even obscure planets like Sauria and Papetoon were brought up every once in a while, but never this planet. Just why was that?
I guess you want them to find out, huh?
Regardless of either or not they knew about it, this was apparently where the fifth and final beacon was, so its existence had to be acknowledged. Without even seeing what was going on down there, Marcus could tell that Kew was not exactly the utopia that a lot of people claimed Corneria to be. It seemed to radiate a strange misty gray hue from its surface, not to mention that with all the thought waves of the other teammates pouring into his conscience, the planet was completely silent.
"And…got it." Chase announced. "Planet Kew. Named on August 3rd, 2006. Contained settlements for almost twenty years before they were all torn apart by the Venomians in the first Lylatian War. Features a mega-prison that's been holding about 1,000 of the galaxy's most notorious criminals since 2032, including serial killer Lolita Ferdinand."
"They didn't give that bitch the death penalty?" Marcus asked.
"The death penalty hasn't been used for over thirty years, Mark, and they caught her only about ten years ago."
"What does she look like, anyway?"
Chase booted up an image. As her pseudonym might have suggested, she was dressed in a gothic Lolita type attire that made her look cute, but at the same time insanely creepy.
"What exactly did she do?" Marcus asked.
Chase shrugged.
"More like what DIDN'T she do. Armed robbery and drug deals in her teenage years, and about sixteen murders and eleven rapes in her adult years, with the rapes all being with guys as young as fifteen."
"Good stuff."
"A real shame, too. She apparently got straight-As in high school."
"Yeah, but if she was really that smart, she wouldn't be a criminal, now, would she?"
Coyote took a good looked at the blueprint of the prison and frowned at it.
"I'm just gonna go out on a limb and say that most of the guys we've apprehended are in there, too."
"Looks like it. We go in there and we're gonna be greeted with a bunch of thugs seeking vengeance."
Anna looked at the diagram in pure dismay.
"Can you really blame them? I honestly can't believe that they were just left on this planet like this…left to just tear each other apart to survive."
"It was either this or bring back capital punishment." Coyote said solemnly. "Pick your poison."
Anna fiddled with a few switches on the map of the planet and sighed when the beacon's location popped up.
"Figures. It's on the top floor of the prison.
"Shit…" Marcus growled. "…alright. Let's go."
The team proceeded towards the bridge, only for Coyote to yelp out in pain and keel over, clutching her stomach.
"What's wrong?" Anna asked sternly.
Coyote stood up nearly instantly with a strained face, but let out an exhale and relaxed.
"I'm fine…let's go."
Marcus made sure that the others were out of the room before he turned to Chase.
"Please for the love of God tell me you've got that serum ready."
Chase nodded and held up a small vial with a red liquid inside.
"Yep. These antibodies oughta do the trick."
"Good. Inject her the second we get back."
"It's gonna be really painful for her…and for you to watch."
"I don't care. She's better off not going into a murderous rampage every other minute I'm around her. Get her fitted and injected as soon as we get back."
"Got it. A lack of super powers is worth it to keep any humanity you have left."
"Exactly why Spider-Man ditched the Venom suit."
Approaching the planet…
The five ships flew downward through the Kew's atmosphere with each of their pilots eagerly awaiting what may have been lying in wake for them. All five kept a sharp lookout for any sign of movement, and it wasn't until a sudden exclamation from the Bonesetter that anyone reacted with shock.
"What the hell is that?"
The object in question was a small space fighter drifting by. Its wings were stretched outward like the wings on a bird, and it had the same colouring as the team's own ships.
"Is that an Arwing?" Coyote asked.
"Looks like it…Chase. Gimme a scan real quick." Marcus said.
Chase locked onto the ship with his front-facing camera and ran through the files on all ships that were registered for use on Corneria. He managed to find it buried very deep in them.
"Arwing model X-502. Codenamed the Cloudrunner." he concluded. "Pilot ID…Krystal?"
"Of course." Marcus said. "Let's not forget that my mother was once a bounty hunter…a very sadistic and cruel one, apparently, but a bounty hunter nonetheless…I've known that for three years and I still can't accept that fact."
"Who could expect you to?"
Taking their attention away from the abandoned Cloudrunner, the team continued downward towards Kew. Upon descending into the troposphere, they could see that there were cumulonimbus clouds peppering the sky, making it look like a severe storm could kick up at any minute.
"There should be an area where we can land somewhere nearby." Anna said.
"Guys," Damalgo started. "Call it a reptile's intuition, but I'm getting this really weird feeling that we're being watched."
"Well, no shit, Sherlock."
"Not by Kursed. Someone down on the planet…"
"Or maybe right behind you." sneered a cold voice.
The team turned and prepared to fire, only to realize (shocker) that it was another Wolfen, this one christened the Rainbow Delta.
"Leon?!" Coyote sputtered. "I can understand Oikonny and Panther coming to our rescue…as well as Panther's overtly flirtatious girlfriend, but why you?"
Leon chuckled. "Let's say I owe your father more than I can repay."
"Right." Marcus said. "Anyhow, let's head down there. Keep your wits about you, everyone."
Within a few minutes, the ships hovered just over the surface of the planet as their pilots jumped to the ground. The Star Fox team had dressed lighter for this mission, wearing either a muscle shirt and cargo pants or a tank top and skinny jeans depending on their gender and each pulling out a weapon they specialized in.
"Let's move out, but everybody stay close…that means you, too, Leon." Marcus said.
"What, is Peter off hitting on some girl?"
Marcus bit his lip.
"Might not wanna mention Peter right now." Anna whispered. "He's still really pissed about what happened."
"Strong but sensitive type. Got it."
With their weapons at the ready, the group proceeded through the ashy forest. Every one of them anxious save for Leon, but considering he was so world-worn, who could expect him to feel jittery about anything? It seemed like the trees themselves were moving, even managing to jump-scare Anna when she thought she saw something moving behind them.
"God, there's too many freakin' trees on this planet." Chase said.
Anna jumped again when she was certain that she saw motion a good distance away.
"Did you guys see that?" she panted.
"It was just a bird, Anne. Stop whining." Coyote said sourly.
"How can I? There's nobody around, we're on our way to a prison where serial killers are locked up…"
"And more trees…" sighed Chase. "Getting really bored here."
They continued to walk, with Damalgo coughing slightly after walking for a good five minutes.
"You alright?" Leon asked.
"Yeah. I think I might be allergic to dust or something."
"Where are you from, anyway?"
"Sauria. I'm a Sharpclaw."
"Don't you folks usually talk like…"
Here Leon adopted a heavy voice that sounded almost like the a certain bald-headed mercenary who enjoys eating sandwiches…excuse me, sand-VITCHES.
"Wake up! Somebody coming!" "That's only the dumbasses that got hired as General Scales' underlings. Funny how having a dangerous job seems to deteriorate your intelligence back there."
"And more trees!" Chase said in an annoyed tone.
Marcus looked all about, his thoughts still fixated on what had happened a few days ago.
"She actually did that…she detonated a hydrogen bomb and tried to take us all down in the explosion. What's wrong with her?! Who the fuck does she think she is…and why am I talking to myself?!"
"AN' MOAR TREEZ!" Chase suddenly shouted.
"Dammit, will you knock it off?!" Coyote retaliated.
"Ah, screw you, that was funny!"
Marcus spotted something flashing just up ahead. Upon getting close enough to see it, he knew that there was a good reason few outsiders had come to the prison.
"Hold up! We've got a landmine!" he barked.
"A chain mine field by the looks of it." Chase muttered as he pointed to the large plain of metal circles lying in the grass. "Setting a single one off triggers the whole damn thing to go."
Chase bent down and looked at the blinking one carefully.
"This looks like the master mine. If I disable this one, the rest will become inactive, but…"
"But…what?" asked Coyote.
"It's gonna take me a while. Cover me… and do me a favour: don't look at me while I do it. It just makes things harder."
That's what she said.
The five others grouped around Chase and held their weapons at the ready in case something would try to sneak up on the young Toad. Despite them having him under lock-and-key so to speak and them having their backs to him so he could concentrate, the rest of the team still couldn't help but feel nervous. Chase hadn't disarmed many mines in his time, and if he screwed up, it would take all six of them out in a fiery explosion…of death.
In fact, as they watched Chase very slowly move his hands toward the wires with noticeable sweat seeping out of his pores, they thought for certain that…
"Done." he said, plucking a single blue wire free and making the blinking stop. "They're still volatile, though, so don't shoot them…oh, AN' MOAR TR…"
Here Anna slapped him across the face.
"Stop doing that! We were scared stiff for a minute there!"
"Ah, c'mon, Annie? You don't trust me with this stuff even though we've known each other for thirteen years?"
Anna was silent for a moment before leaning over and gently kissing Chase on the cheek, then returning to her serious demeanour. Chase simply smirked.
"That's better."
"You kids and your abusive relationships…" Leon muttered in an amused fashion.
They carried on, stepping carefully around the mines and eventually arriving at the mega-prison that seemed to rise out of the ground like a giant monolith…of death…that's redundant.
"Exactly how many floors are there in this building, Anne?" Coyote asked.
"Forty." she replied. "So yeah, the Lylat System isn't the utopia everybody makes it out to be."
They approached the door and gently eased their way inside. They found themselves in a room that resembled the police station back on Corneria, the only difference being that the lights barely worked, constantly flickering and sparking in an erratic pattern. That, and there was dirt and grime everywhere, a clear sign that nobody sane had been here in ages.
Anna examined the blueprint of the prison again.
"They really seemed to design this place without convenience in mind."
"How so?" asked Damalgo. "Well, there's only one elevator every five floors and they each only go that far. Maybe it was a safety precaution: to confuse the prisoners if they tried to escape. Taking the stairs would tucker them out in minutes."
"It gives us more of a reason not to split up." Marcus said. "Everyone ready?"
They didn't look like it, but they nodded nonetheless. Marcus nodded in response and kicked the door open to the containing area, which seemed to take up most of the building. The lights here flickered, too, not helped by the fact that they couldn't see the ceiling since there wasn't anything separating the floors: just numerous catwalks high above them that criss-crossed to several balconies up against the walls. Worst of all, practically everything they could see was a cell in the wall holding some very…interesting residents.
"This reminds me way too much of that movie Dredd." Damalgo said.
"Hm. Dirty, but not to the point of being considered disgusting, dilapidated but not to the point of being considered a wreck…I think they should let Anna spend some time here." Chase smirked.
Anna rolled her eyes.
"They wouldn't lock me in here even if I pulled a plunger out of my ass and went 'BAAAAAAH!'."
The second Anna made that noise, all of the prisoners became aware of the team's presence. While some of them ignored it and just went back to sleep, knowing trying to get out was pointless, others began banging on their cell bars and (for some reason) gnashing their teeth as soon as they saw where the sound had come from.
"Oh, will ya look at this?!" one of them shouted. "The little gang of mercenaries came to pay us a visit. I'm so touched."
"Hey, bunny girl! How 'bout a kiss?!"
"If it isn't Leon Powalski! Come to slit some more throats?"
"Please, stop tempting me." Leon grumbled.
"The first elevator's just over there." Coyote said. "Let's do this."
The six walked carefully into the elevator, where Marcus promptly hit the button for the fifth floor once they were all inside.
"So fill me in, kiddies." Leon said, leaning up against the wall. "What's all this about?"
"I believe you're familiar with Kursed." Marcus said.
"A little bit. Why?"
"Her head's gonna roll in a few days time."
"That's not what I meant. Backstory. C'mon, let hear it."
The team each took turns explaining parts of the story so far. They explained what happened at the F-Zero race, the missions on Solar and Venom, what had happened yesterday, and what Kursed had done to the team aside from Chase and Marcus.
"Sounds like my kind of woman." Leon said once they had finished.
"She'd sooner have you gutted and hanging from a bridge, but I wouldn't worry." Coyote growled. "She'll be on the market in the afterlife."
"So have any of you thought of just how you're going to put a stop to her?"
"We just told you," Chase said. "We're going to use the energy from the beacons to…"
"Again, not what I meant. That's how to find where she's hiding out, not how to kill her. Since you just told me she can…well, do all this crazy shit, what makes you think you can just walk up to her and put a bullet in her head?"
No one had any sort of logical answer. Maybe they had just been too consumed by rage after what had happened. They wanted her dead so badly that they hadn't had time to think of how they were going to do it. Realizing how stupid they had been, though, only served to make them angrier than they had already been.
"Let's just get the Goddamn job done and go home." Marcus seethed, gripping his staff even tighter.
The elevator stopped on the fifth floor, and the second the group stepped out and began heading across a catwalk to the next elevator, the intercom clicked on. They knew that things were about to go from unnerving to downright panic-stricken in seconds when Kursed's voice buzzed over it, yet somehow Marcus had secretly had a gut feeling this was going to happen.
"Ah, look who's here." she cooed. "I've been waiting for you, Star Fox."
"Why am I not surprised?" Marcus groaned.
"I hope you're prepared for a good time, because the party's just about to begin. Just need a few guests."
"…she wouldn't!"
Several loud buzzes began filling the giant room, echoing up through the dark air until they suddenly stopped.
"She would."
One by one, every single one of the cells flew open and the prisoners came pouring out. The second they saw the team, they all grew menacing looks on their faces.
"You are one sick fuck, you know that?" Marcus grumbled.
"I try. Enjoy the fun."
"I would consider fun to be kicking back with a good video game and what does it matter? She's gone again."
You know Dead Rising? How there's about eight hundred zombies coming at you from every possible direction? That's what this was like, with every prisoner charging towards the team, running up or down the stairs if they needed to.
"Are they just Lylatians now, Anne?" Marcus asked.
"...well, they were until they decided they wanted to kill us."
"That's what I thought. Everybody fire at will!"
It really was a bit unfair considering the team had guns and a variety of other items to help them, but that didn't stop them from unloading on the prisoners the second they came close. They were going to die of starvation at some point, so what was wrong with just putting them out of their misery?
Probably a lot of things, but I digress.
Grabbing Leon from behind did no good as he spun around and ran a knife he suddenly withdrew across the prisoner's throat, following up by stabbing another one directly in the chest and kicking him over the railing. Damalgo began loading up arrows into his bow and firing away at the prisoners as fast as he could, striking one with the bow when he got too close. With a quick slash, Coyote cut away at the prisoners in front of her right as she let out a cry of pain and keeled over again.
"Coyote, what's wrong?!" Marcus yelled.
"N-nothing…my stomach just hurts. I'll be fine, really."
"You don't look fine. You look like you're about to puke!"
"I said I'm fine! I…heads up!"
Marcus spun around just in time to slam his foot into the chest of the prisoner that had leaped headlong at him. While he was grateful that Coyote had managed to see that attack ahead of time, he was still unnerved by just how much worse her condition was getting. She looked like she was developing some sort of disease.
Coyote herself had felt her blood pressure rise the second her stomach cramped, thinking she was going to fly into a violent outburst again. What was happening was more than just some sort of possession. It was seeping deeper and deeper into her, grabbing at her very soul.
She felt it…a horrible feeling building up inside her…she felt fear. She felt fear to its fullest extent. What was happening to her, and how could it be stopped? That was what frightened her most: what if it couldn't be stopped? What if she ended up murdering someone she loved by accident? What if she ended up a soulless monster just like…her?
Marcus kicked away another prisoner before turning to the rest of the team.
"Head for the elevator!" he shouted.
With their guns still ablaze, the team ran towards the elevator to the tenth floor as quickly as they could. They just barely managed to squeeze inside amongst the dozens of hand grabbing at them. Right as the door was shutting, one of the prisoners got their hand in and grabbed Anna's ankle. Anna herself let out a loud shriek as she was pulled to the ground with her leg sticking straight out of the door, and another when she felt something very sharp dig into her leg. A quick shot from Chase's gun was enough to free her from the grasp of the prisoners and pull her leg through, letting the doors close and the elevator go up but also making her injury able to be seen by the team.
"Son of a bitch, that hurt!" she seethed, sucking in a quick breath and laying her hand gently on her wound.
"Let me see." Chase said, getting on his knees to get a good look at it. After a few seconds of inspection, his conclusion was this: "Good God, one of them bit you! They really have gone off their rockers out here! Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I can shake it off."
"Can you walk?" "I'm fine, really. Just gotta put some pressure on it, that's all."
After Coyote took a headband out of her pocket and handed it to Anna, she tied it around her injury tightly enough that she could stand without it hurting too badly. It wasn't as though they could just beam themselves back to the Great Fox with the kind of radio interference in here that was even making Anna's map difficult to read properly, so it was like with that one episode of Family Guy: getting shot (or bitten by a lunatic) didn't get you out of there anymore…and yes, I did just make that reference. You mad, bro?
Oddly enough, it became even more like a zombie movie the second the door let them onto the tenth floor as the prisoners let out loud yells and charged at the team with their arms outstretched, seemingly immune to the fact that the team had weapons that could pump out about thirty tiny pieces of lead in a second. There was so much blood flying all over that Marcus could swear that his fur would turn purple if any more of it got on him.
Leon being an assassin-for-hire was relatively used to this kind of thing. The only thing he hated was the last moments. Just the look on a person's face when they realize that their life has been taken from him had disturbed him numerous times, and sometimes the words the spoke to him cut deeper than the bullet he put in them.
And what better moment for an evil spirit to strike than when a tough-as-nails fellow is feeling sentimental?
"Ah, Leon. We finally get to meet again."
Leon ignored the voice and kept firing, swinging his knife if the prisoners got even a hair too close.
"Oh, ignoring me, huh?" the voice scowled. "How heartbreaking. Let's see if this gets your attention."
All of a sudden, Leon heard another voice. It was a woman…a woman he knew all too well. She was crying out in pain…crying out his name. Crying out for him to save her.
"No…it's not my fault." Leon muttered to himself, clutching at his head. "I promised myself that I'd never feel guilty for it ever again!"
"So I have your attention, now?" Kursed mocked. "Good. How about a little more?" "Stop it! That's enough!"
"She's attacking Leon now?! Are you shitting me?!" Marcus said before running over to the distressed chameleon and grabbing hold of his shoulders. "Leon! It's just an illusion! Snap out of it!"
It didn't do any good. Leon kept thrashing about like one of the madmen that they were fighting, completely sucked into the hell that Kursed had made his thoughts into. Marcus had no choice to but to hold off the incoming prisoners just to keep Leon from getting hurt.
"Leon…" the voice cried. "Help me…Leon!"
"No…y-you have to hold on! Don't let go!" Leon said, several tears coming from his eyes.
It was happening. The thing he had been trying to suppress for so long was being exploited just to torture him. He, Leon Powalski, was at the mercy of someone who wasn't even a professional assassin, but rather a personal one. He remembered the horrible event like it was yesterday and saw it in every nightmare that he had ever had.
He saw her holding on for dear life dozens of feet above him. He saw her looking into his eyes and pleading for him to save her. He saw the flames of the slowly collapsing building begin to reach up and lick her fur, spreading across her whole body until she let out one final scream as the pain forced her to let go.
"AMY!" Leon cried, diving forward over the railing of the floor they stood on.
"Leon, you dunce!" Marcus hollered, diving after him and just barely managing to grab onto his tail.
"Let me go! I can save her!" "It's okay, Leon! It's in the distant past! Just let it go!"
Marcus was trying his best to pull Leon up, but with the middle-aged chameleon thrashing about to get loose and save the imaginary girl and three of the prisoners menacingly approaching him. With only one arm clutching Leon's tail, Marcus did his best to try and reach up towards his staff, but it was just barely out of reach as the prisoners lunged headlong at him…
…and went flying over the railing as several bolts of plasma came flying in out of nowhere.
"Heads up, kids!" yelled a voice from the elevator. "The cavalry's here!"
"Grandpa!" Anna cheered.
"Jeez, Peppy, about time you showed up!" Chase hollered over the noise.
Tell me about it.
Much to the team's surprise and joy, charging up the stairs came a large group of Cornerian militia, led by the one and only General Peppy Hare. The prisoners made a futile attempt at incapacitating this new threat to them, only to meet with their deaths when the militia's pulse rifles fired down on them, finally giving Marcus enough time to pull Leon back up. The old rabbit himself stooped down next to Marcus.
"You alright there?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Leon…he got attacked."
"I see. The last beacon's up on the top floor, right?"
"Yeah."
Peppy lifted his communicator to his mouth.
"Gentlemen, enter through the east wall."
Once he finished talking, a hole was blasted into the east wall of the prison with a small space fighter cruising down to where Marcus and Peppy stood.
"The rookie here will give you a lift to the 39th floor. The last one is just one giant cell to keep a certain someone from ever getting out. You head up there and get that last beacon. We'll take care of the mess down here."
Judging from how Chase brought up a random character we've never seen before, it seems that you have a faint idea of who Marcus will encounter. Nonetheless, Marcus nodded and hopped onto the ship's windshield, prompting it to raise higher and higher through the central shaft until it reached its destination. The young McCloud hopped off and saluted the soldier before turning towards the stairwell.
"Well, here goes nothin'."
He sucked in a breath and began to ascend the staircase. It was now that he realized that there were blue lights on the floor slowly leading the way up the stairs, hinting that the darkness would have been used to disorient whoever was up here. Sadly, this also made him more unnerved as he steadily opened the door leading into the massive room. The door behind him shut with a loud boom, echoing through the room before leaving behind complete silence.
Marcus took a few steps forward before he heard another noise.
"Marcus James McCloud, I presume." said a light and misty voice.
It wasn't the voice itself that bothered him. It was that it had rang out from nowhere. He hadn't sensed its source, either, opting instead to stand perfectly still and observe his darkened surrounding for any sign of movement.
"Yes." he answered. "And you must be Lolita Ferdinand."
The voice giggled. It sounded like a teenage girl, though there was no way she could be that young. Of course, he would be able to prove this if he could actually see what he was doing.
"Tell me, Marcus: what brings you here?"
"I don't want to fight you or anything, so let me just ask you something. Were you visited by…"
"A woman with violet hair who asked me to house part of her power for her?" "…oddly specific."
"But accurate, isn't it?"
Marcus took another step forward, noticing that he wasn't walking on concrete or steel anymore. Whatever was under his feet was relatively leathery and even somewhat bouncy. Upon thinking about it, he realized what was going on. This wasn't a cell he was standing in. It was a solitary confinement room. This woman wasn't just a criminal. She was either psychotic or pure evil, and judging from how she had raped elven underage boys, the latter seemed far more likely.
And it sounded like she wanted to go for number twelve.
"You sound so cute, Marcus…do me a favour and flick that switch over there so I can get a better look at you."
Marcus didn't want to abide by any sort of request from a criminal like this, but he did it anyway. Upon searching around look enough, he flicked the light switch. Then again, all it did was turn on some blue floodlights on the ground that still left the walls out of sight but at least illuminated the ground enough that he could see the outline of someone sitting in the corner with their legs crossed. He tightened his grip on his staff in case she tried anything funny.
"Oh, you're just as cute as you sound…come closer to me."
Odder still, Marcus obeyed, though very reluctantly. Lolita continued to sit, though the closest floodlight managed to illuminate her face enough that Marcus could see it, and what he saw disturbed him beyond belief. Not only did she look like a young teen, she looked like that cute girl that looks at you like she's going to kill you in your sleep if you refuse her advances. Not to mention she had an absurdly wide smile on her face that would put Jeff the Killer, the kuchisake-onna, or even the Joker to shame…and those three have Chelsea smiles!
Just as Marcus was considering backing off the second he saw how happy she was to see him, she stood up and began seductively walking towards him. Marcus bit his lip.
"Alright, look, lady. I'm just here to get that power out of you, so just cough it up or…however you'd get something like that out of your body and I'll be on my way."
"But don't you want to get to know me a little better? I mean, really. We've only just met, after all."
"I don't have time to hook up with strangers…shit, did I just say 'hook up'?"
"Why, yes, you did! In that case, this'll be even more fun than I thought."
"And she disappeared. Great."
Back below the 40th floor, the Cornerian militia was sweeping up the routine rather nicely, though they were all in for a shock when one of the prisoners clamped his jaws down on Coyote's arm. Her blood pressure skyrocketed, she clenched her teeth, let out the demonic reptile roar that she had done on Lylat, and before everyone's eyes, she grabbed the prisoner's neck and pulled his head clean off with his spine still attached. One of the younger soldiers cried out in shock upon seeing this.
"Get a hold of yourself, son!" Peppy barked at him.
"Sir…kinda hard to do when she just went Sub-Zero on that guy's ass, sir!"
Upon her blood pressure dropping back to normal, she dropped the head in terror and looked down at her hands.
"Oh my God…what's….oh, God!"
The stomach pain came back even worse than before, and her vision seemed to pulse with every heartbeat. Speaking of her heartbeat, she could hear it getting steadily louder and louder to the point where she wanted to yell at it to shut up. The second she opened her mouth to call for help, however, she wretched and a revolting black spew came shooting out of her mouth. She let out a pained groan and was unconscious before she even collapsed onto the ground
"Coyote!" Chase cried, rushing forward to catch her the second he saw her in pain.
He felt at her wrist and confirmed a pulse, but knew that whatever was in her was just getting even worse. He growled out "Son of a bitch" before he turned on his comm.
"Mark! Coyote had another spaz attack! She's unconscious!" he yelled.
"I'm a little busy here, Chase…there you are!"
Marcus roundhouse-kicked towards the area in which he thought he saw movement, but only struck thin air.
"Wait, Coyote's unconscious?!"
The second Marcus realized what Chase had said, he forgot all about the beacon and ran straight for the door. He all of a sudden didn't care about stopping Kursed. In fact, he even forgot why he was there for a moment. He just knew that there was no way he could finish the mission knowing Coyote was in danger.
The only problem was that he couldn't find the door…and was Lolita humming from somewhere in the darkness? This managed to make the tense situation even worse with Marcus practically scratching at the walls to find a way out of the room to help Coyote.
"Trying to escape?" Lolita giggled. "But then you'll miss all the fun."
"Of what? Losing my virginity to an old bag?"
Believe it or not, once he had said that, Lolita gasped out of disgust.
"H-how dare you! I'll have you know that I'm only twenty-one years old!"
A light bulb switched on in Marcus' head and a smirk stretched across his face. He turned around and crossed his arms.
"Yeah, whatever. You don't look a day under fifty."
"Fuck you!"
"Fuck you."
"FUCK YOU!"
She came running straight at him from the darkness. Marcus grabbed one end of his staff with both hands and gripped it tight.
"AND IT'S A HOOOOOOOOOOOOOME RUN!" he cheered as he swung it with all his might, smacking Lolita across the face and knocking her unconscious.
Marcus walked up to Lolita's collapsed form and gently nudged her with his foot. She simply stirred, but didn't wake up.
"Well, that was a bit of a rip-off. Anyhow, let's see what we've got."
Marcus placed his hand Lolita's forehead, and in came another vision. However, he couldn't see what was happening. All he heard were two: his and Coyote's. Both of them were talking in frightened and devastated tones.
"Coyote, please…we can find a cure! We can get you back to normal!"
"She's infected me beyond the chance of a cure, Mark. You know you don't have a choice. Just do it!" "…I can't."
"Please, Mark…rid me of this curse once and for all. If anyone is going to do this to me, I'll be happy to know that it's you."
The real Marcus stood confused, not knowing what was going on until he heard a gunshot ring out. Had he just…shot Coyote?
He shook the thoughts out of his head and looked down at Lolita one last time.
"Sleep well, princess."
He walked out of the now-visible door, shutting it and twisting the locking bar into a knot to prevent the door from opening. When it was done, he ran down the stairs to where the team and the militia were now stationed. Just as Chase had said, Coyote was out cold with a black spew dripping from her mouth.
"The prisoners have all been exterminated." Peppy said.
"What about Leon?" Marcus asked.
"A little delirious, but he's regaining contact with reality by the looks of it."
Marcus nodded and cradled Coyote in his arms.
"I got the beacon. We're heading back to the Great Fox."
Prepping for injection…
The still-unconscious Coyote was strapped to a surgical table with nothing but her undergarments on the second the team got back to the ship. Chase forced her to breathe in an anesthetic gas just to make sure she wouldn't wake up during this somewhat painful procedure.
"Okay." he concluded before screwing the vial of antibodies into a nearby contraption. "So if we look at the screen here, we can see the bacteria which I think are causing all of these violent outbursts."
The team looked at the screen. They were indeed strange black creatures flitting about in Coyote's blood stream, and they certainly seemed to resemble bacteria.
"So how's this gonna work?" Damalgo asked.
"I'm going to inject the serum into six areas: both arms, both legs, and both sides of her neck. The antibodies should take about a few hours at the least to completely eat away at the bacteria."
"Alright." Marcus said. "Do it."
Chase nodded and began inputting commands on his keyboard. The machine he placed the serum into revved to life and flexed its six arms, all of which had needles on the end. The arms positioned themselves in the right areas and gently inserted the needles into Coyote's skin. She strained her face, but otherwise didn't move or wake up. The needles retracted just a few moments later, and the team examined the screen again.
The small red antibodies began swimming through Coyote's blood stream and proceeded toward the bacteria, but then came the moment of horror: they were doing absolutely nothing to eliminate them. The bacteria themselves struck away the antibodies without even moving.
"What's going on?!" Anna asked. "Why isn't it working?!"
"Something's wrong…" Chase said. "Maybe I need to inject a higher dose or…no…it can't be."
He scanned the bacteria and inputted more commands until the results came up.
"No, no, no, NO!" Chase panicked. "This can't be happening!"
"What's wrong?!" Marcus asked.
"The bacteria themselves are antibodies, so according to my calculations, there's nothing wrong with Coyote!" "What do you mean there's nothing wrong?! She ripped a guy's head off down there!"
"It wasn't a diseased impulse, Mark. The virus was indeed just in her blood stream when I first analyzed it, but now…it's spread beyond repair."
Marcus stood speechless for a moment before coming to a realization. He felt a tear come to his eye as he began thinking and speaking his next words. "So you're telling me…there's no cure?"
"Yes. It's in her genetic code now. When she slaughtered that guy, she was acting on primal instinct…she's not who she used to be, Mark."
Chase slumped over in defeat.
"I'm sorry, Mark…Coyote is beyond saving now." 'No…no! This is bullshit! There has to be a way to stop it from getting any worse!" "THERE IS NONE! COYOTE'S DONE FOR, MARK!"
The moment Chase yelled, Coyote woke up. At first, it just seemed like she had stirred awake, but then she looked over at Anna and made the poor girl scream. Her eyes were opened frighteningly wide and had nothing in them aside from the whites. The moment Anna screamed and backed away, Coyote adopted a menacing grin before letting out the horrible roar once again. Marcus spun around and went to subdue the now-thrashing wolf girl, only to have (of all things) a tentacle burst out of Coyote's chest and wrap itself around her neck.
"What's happened to her?!" Anna cried.
"She's a fucking monster, that's what's happened!" Chase yelled.
Marcus trashed about in the grip of the tentacle, trying his best to get loose. This only forced Coyote to strengthen her grip until she finally slammed him up against a wall. Marcus had no choice. He closed his eyes brought up any amount of strength he had left, and…
"CEFYRIYBS NEFGH!" he bellowed.
A massive burst of blue light filled the room and drenched over Coyote. The inhumane roar emerged again, but Marcus felt the tentacle release its grip around him and when the light faded, Coyote was sitting upright in her normal state. She looked over at Marcus in complete terror as he stood up.
She embraced him the second he came close enough, and with the gentle tears flowing from her face, her words served to make Marcus all the more determined to have Kursed begging for forgiveness.
"Help me…please." she sobbed.
Marcus growled under his breath and adopted a look of pure vengeance before yelling out.
"Kursed! If it's the last thing I do…I'll kill you for this!"
Somewhere far away, Kursed heard these words and smirked as though they tickled her.
"Bring it on."
Upon further inspection…
The militia remained behind on Kew for a few hours examined all the recorded criminals to ensure they had every single one accounted for. They found them all…
…all of them except Lolita Ferdinand.
And now the curtain draws on the second act. You wanna know something even crazier? We're not even half-done yet! ...other than that, I don't have anything else to say. See ya.
SOUNDTRACK SO FAR
Krystal's nightmare- "Parabola" by Mer (Originally by Tool)
Marcus versus Coyote (friendly)- "Name of the Game" by the Crystal Method
F-Zero race- "F-Zero Medley" by Entertainment System
Space pirate attack- Space pirate theme from Metroid Prime
Ridley- Ridley's theme from Metroid: Other M
Falcon takes down Ridley- "The Meaning of truth" by Hiro-X
The date- Ilia's theme from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Coyote versus the shadows- "The Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson
The star Lylat- Magmoor Caverns theme from Metroid Prime
Marcus and Fox- "Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Fox versus Kursed- "Du Hast" by Rammstein
Marcus and Coyote versus Nightmare- Nightmare's theme from Metroid Fusion (ArcX version)
The Nightstriker- "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath
The death of Commander Dane- "Mad World" by Gary Jules
The prisoners of Kew- Byelomorye Dam from Goldeneye 64