-Chapter XIII-
"Titania's surface"
Silver squinted as he looked over the landscape; the land was dead, nothing but golden burning sand as far as the eye could see, spare a small rock formation in the far distance, the air was dry and hot, he instantly felt sweat begin to gather under his fur, he didn't like this place at all. As he wiped the sweat from his face Roxy handed him a small canteen of water which he drank from before pouring a bit on his face. She didn't really care for the place much herself, Fox didn't like it either but, he was used to being in situations that he didn't really care for...they waited near the arwings for a few minutes before Fox stepped over to them...
"Okay you two..." He said, "Sorry we had to wait but, there was some kind of interference blocking out the scanners. According to Mia their base is in that rock formation on the horizon. Now what do you do if something goes wrong?"
Roxy sighed, "Get to the arwings. Send out a distress signal."
"And you?" Fox asked turning to Silver.
"Follow Roxy and make sure she's safe..."
"Exactly...now lets go scope this place out."
Their trek through the sands was horrible, they were all panting heavily before they covered the ground between the arwings and the pirate base. Space Pirates weren't exactly a band of animals anyone in the modern age had a habit of fucking around with...most of them had a nasty mean streak and the only reason they were a part of the band was because nobody else in the Lylat system could stand them, it was also a means of which to keep from going in and out of prison on a regular basis. The act of piracy had become so bad in recent years that in an allied agreement several decades back, it was registered that all civilians and mercenaries had specific permission, and obligation to kill anyone that was registered as a pirate...this lead to many deaths and many more arrests over a 20 year period before the regiment was retracted. Pirates in these days were a bit harder to find as they often hid in places like this, they were a dying breed but, they were plentiful enough to still cause a problem to the Cornerian Alliance...
As Roxy began to cross the final sand dune leading to the base a paw snatched her by the shoulder pulling her down behind the dune. Fox's paw instantly slapped over her muzzle muffling whatever she was about to say. After a moment of two Silver looked to Fox and nodded.
"What the hell?" Roxy asked in a low tone.
"I almost didn't see 'em...there are at least three guards down there." Fox replied.
Roxy peeked over the dune...there wasn't anything there; the massive pillars of rock that jutted out of the ground, and sand. As she looked on she almost didn't see it...there were footprints in the sand...moving ones. She slid back down to the bottom of the dune...
"Where the fuck did they get cloaking devices?" She asked.
"Hello...they're pirates..." Fox said, "They stole them. Here..."
Fox passed out small silver disc-shaped devices...
"These are the best cloaking devices I could get my hands on. They won't hold a great charge though, so we're gonna have to do this fast. I don't know anything about this place so keep them on and as soon as we're inside find a place to hide until nightfall. Okay lets hold out for a minute...GO!!"
At Fox's word the three turned their devices on, they all barreled toward the rock formation in the distance making sure to fan out far enough not to be picked up by the guards. Fox headed directly for one of the pillars of stone but, as he reached out to brace himself against it he stumbled forward when his paw met no resistance. He looked up from the floor to find that he was in what looked like some sort of hanger, built over what looked like an underground cave of some sort. The massive red ship was only a few yards away from him. He took a look around, there were boxes everywhere, crates, weapons, supplies for the ship, and a number of different types of fighters, as he looked around he found the perfect hiding place; a low hanging vent shaft that kept this hanger from overheating. He didn't have any trouble getting into the vent and climbing around until from the inside of the shaft through a small grate he could see the ship below him...
He waited for at least an hour before he heard something come through on his communicator, "Scar...I'm in a safe place." Roxy's voice whispered.
"Where at?"
"I don't know...but it really smells in here...Someplace under the ship. My cloaking device was going out and I panicked."
"Oh dear god...Roxy...don't panic...but that is a sewage dump." Fox shuddered at the thought, "but at the least nobody will look for you down there."
"Where are you?" She whispered back, she sounded a bit disgusted.
"Vent shaft...it's doesn't smell at all. It's actually nice and cool in here...but I am hungry now...I smell fried chicken, this shaft must be hooked to the kitchen."
"I fucking hate you..." Roxy's voice came back, "...I'm standing knee deep in shit...and you are sitting in a nice, cool air vent, where the only smell you're worried about is fried chicken."
"Did you see Silver down there?'
"No...he was invisible at the moment."
Just at that moment a familiar voice came through the communicator in a light whisper, "Scar? Roxy? You two safe?"
"Yeah we're fine...where are you? The hologram outside is fucking with the GPS on these things."
"I don't know. I went inside that big cave...my cloaking started to go out so I jumped into the nearest dark place. There's small cans and stuff in here wait there's a bag...po-ta-toes. Did we eat something like that last night?"
"Yes Silver sounds like you're in a food pantry find a place to hide in there and we'll come get you as soon as possible. You two keep your communicators on but only talk if you have to...Scar out."
The minutes passed into hours and Fox found himself dozing off, the cool air in the vent was lulling him to sleep as it reminded him of his bedroom on the ship. Soon enough however he began to creep through the vents, he was happy enough when he finally crawled out of the vents...two of the night guards were unconscious by a large stack of crates, one still clutching the neck of a bottle labeled 'Rum'...He sighed and shook his head in shame before walking to the dump under the ship where Roxy had hidden, the smell was horrible, instantly bringing tears to the poor fox's eyes...
"Roxy..." He called quietly, "it's safe to come out...these stupid fucks are drunk off their asses."
A furry pink paw came into view which Fox grabbed pulling her out of the stinkhole, "Wow...you smell horrible." Fox said.
Roxy simply gave him the worst of 'go to hell' looks, "Is Silver out here?"
"No I'm still in this room..." Silver's voice came through her communicator.
Fox patted the poor bunny on the shoulder, she'd clearly been throwing up, "Look around and check to see if it's safe to come out..."
"It's not...there's a guard...he keeps coming back in here every few minutes."
Fox sighed, "Damn it...they aren't all asleep. Your cloaking device should have recharged by now, use it and get the hell out of there."
"Okay..." Silver's voice came back.
Fox and Roxy began to make their way into the base, the insides weren't what you'd expect for a hole in the ground, it was clearly some sort of old munitions dump site, the walls were held tight by metal buttresses, and after going down several hundred yards the thin tunnel spread out into a massive facility, it looked like an underground bee hive, with spiraling catwalks along the edges of the massive underground room. As they began to walk Fox noticed one of a fox coming along the path, he was missing an eye but, he clearly wasn't blind. Quickly taking notice of a nearby door which turned out to be some sort of supply closet Fox quickly took Roxy by the arm and drug her inside with him...The closet was clearly used to store cleaning items, mops, brooms, and an assortment of cleansers that were needed to maintain such a base, a small vent on the door kept the room fresh to allow the chemicals to breath out. As the guard passed by Fox peered through the small metal grate, the fox stopped and sniffed the air for a moment and developed a disgusted look, he examined the bottoms of his boots...then turned to the closet...
"Roxy..." Fox whispered damn near silently, "...your boots."
The refuse from her unfortunate hiding place was caked to her boots and jeans, this was without a doubt what the vulpine smelled. The two inside quickly hid to either side of the door just before it opened a bit, the fox sniffed the vile air again...
"The fuck is that?" He asked himself.
As the fox stepped inside to check, the door slammed shut behind him...there was only a brief moment in which someone could have heard the sound of him flailing around madly as Fox's knife pierced his lung. Soon Fox and Roxy both emerged from the small room, Roxy now wearing the fox's pants and boots, which didn't fit too well, but with the assistance of Fox's belt held up well enough. It was a short time before a set of footsteps approached the two from behind as he and Roxy were hidden behind a stack of crates that smelled of liquor...
"Hey Silver..." Fox said not bothering to turn and look.
The silver furred vulpine faded into clear vision, "Hey Scar...I saw that thing...the red statue from the photo."
"Really? Where?" Roxy asked.
"Back up toward the place I was hiding...what smells like..." He was cut off by the rabbit's paw that closed his muzzle.
"Shut up..." She said noticing that Fox was almost laughing, "You too."
"Lead the way." Fox said standing up.
Silver led them back around toward the top of the tunnel, they hadn't even noticed that it spiraled in both directions. It only took a few minutes for them to reach a large metal door. Where Silver stopped before them pointing at the door...
"There...when I came by here someone came out...the door was open long enough for me too see it. I tried to get back in but it's locked."
Fox took a look at a small panel on the side of the door, "Damn it..."
"What is the combination hard to break?" Roxy asked.
"Standard military panel...anywhere between 4 and 24 digits. Almost impossible to crack." Fox answered, "Luckily it doesn't look like we have to worry about that..." Fox said turning his cloaking device on.
The others followed him in step both seeming to fade from existence before a light brown furred squirrel, wearing a bright red vest with a white undershirt, his brown pants were torn about the knees and shins, his shoes had also seen better days. He marched up to the panel and punched in a short but rapid 15 digit number causing the door to slide open, the four of them entered the room...one entirely oblivious to the other three. The room was filled with assorted treasures; gold, jewels, statues, works of art, everything you could think of that could be worth any sort of money. As Fox noticed the stature they were after was a bit bigger than he expected. Unfortunately as the squirrel found a place to sit down Roxy's cloaking device made an odd sound making her fade back into view...
"Oh...shit." She said lightly as a blaster was pointed at her face.
As she looked on the blaster was knocked out of the squirrel's hand by an unseen force; and with an odd sound a wide red line formed across the animal's neck in an instant forcing the spray of blood to paint a horrible portrait of Fox's face in red which seemed to hang in mid-air. The levitating face of blood turned to face the pink rabbit...
"What the hell happened?" It asked as Fox faded into existence, wiping his knife on his pant leg before sheathing it.\
Roxy handed him her cloaking device, "I don't know...it shorted out or something."
Fox looked it over as Silver faded into sight, "Shit..."
"What? What's wrong?" Roxy asked.
"Oh..." Fox said, "...nothing there's just shit in this thing. Probably what shorted it out."
Fox tossed her his, "Just use mine if something happens..." He said turning toward the statue, "Wow this thing is bigger than it looked."
They made sure that the statue wouldn't hinder any movements before Silver lifted onto his shoulder...it was heavy but not so much that it gave him a mass of discomfort. Fox didn't like how easy this was going he'd always been taught to expect the worst which had oddly not happened yet, he was certain that at some point that one of the bodies would have been discovered. On their way out he kept getting the strangest feeling...almost like a familiar presence. It was as they began to exit the tunnel back into the hanger that Fox stopped them. There was a small platoon of animals...slaughtered one looked as though he'd attempted to make it to a small red switch on the wall that was labeled alarm, a small throwing knife had pierced the back of his skull still sunk into the wall the body laying on the floor in a pool of blood, all of the others seemed to either have a similar knife stuck in vital points of their bodies, or long sweeping gashes that lay their entrails on the floor. Fox had seen this style of killing before, in fact several times...cold, heartless, and without second thought, and worst of all completely silent, not a single shot had been fired...
"Turn on your cloaking devices, put down the statue, and run.." Fox half whispered to his friends.
"What? Why?" Roxy asked.
"Just do it!" He almost yelled.
Silver sat down the statue and the two vanished...
"Don't worry about me I'll take the statue and be right behind you. Just go..."
After Fox could no longer hear their footsteps he pulled out his knife and his blaster...
"I wouldn't so that if I were you..." A familiar but creepy voice echoed through the room, "you wouldn't want the rest of this rabble to wake up."
"Come on out Powalski...or are you still afraid of me." Fox called out.
Fox barely managed to leap out of the way of the three triangular knives that struck the metal ground...the fact that they pierced the floor proved how honed their blades were, "Nice try McCloud..." The lizard's voice echoed back with a light chuckle, "...but not everyone out there goes by your piss poor little code of honor...because in the end even the honorable are still only corpses."
"So I guess Wolf finally grew a brain and kicked your retarded ass off his team?" Fox said hoping to analyze the direction from the lizard's reply.
"Yes...He kept an annoyingly close eye on me after that incident during the war...but no matter the only thing that's important now is what you stole from Omni. You have no idea what you're getting yourself into McCloud...even that moron Falco is smart enough not to fuck with the corporation."
As the reptile kept talking Fox noticed something...there was a shadow cast by a light from the moon outside the building where there was no standing body. The shot from Fox's blaster was swift and precise striking something which then faded into view; the shot had been meant to short out the cloaking device as any powerful contact that would break the surface of the field it surrounded it's user in would knock the thing offline. Fox was never too happy to see Leon...he was known in the Dan'jas system, Lylat, and Krazoa as a hated and skilled assassin who had an impressive track record...
Fox looked to the scowling chameleon, "How do you want to do this lizard lips? Personally I wouldn't mind doing this the old fashioned way. Blaster against a bunch of throwing knives is a bit one sided you know?"
Leon bore a snide grin as he pulled a small pouch from his thigh tossing it aside, "Wolf always respected this about you?" The lizard said pulling out a large knife who's handle wrapped around the animal's knuckles spikes protruding from the guard it formed.
Fox dropped his blaster and readied his own knife...
"Still carrying daddy's knife huh?"
Fox chuckled, "Don't worry about that...you and this knife are about to become very close..."
Fox was rarely the first to make a move in any fight...James had always taught him to be the last to move so that the enemy cannot read what your next move will be, or at least give them very little time to react to it. Leon and Fox began to circle keeping their eyes not on each other but rather the knife in the other's hand. Suddenly the reptile lurched forward with an impressive speed swiping his curved blade at the vulpine's face. Fox made a swift spin to his left pulling him out of harm's way and setting the two back in their original positions circling once again...Leon barely noticed the now red stripe across his side. The angered assassin now lunged at Fox with greater speed, Fox swung his knife but, a well set kick from the lizard sent the blade flying across the room, he then began swinging his blade in an expert fashion, some of the swipes coming close enough to split hairs and tear small holes in Fox's clothes. After dodging several attempts to stab him Fox took the chameleon by the arm whipping the thing freak over his shoulder and into the ground with a heavy impact that jarred the knife from the assassin's grip which Fox quickly kicked away.
Leon spun about striking Fox's ankles with his surprisingly strong tail sending his adversary sprawling to the metal floor, before leaping several feet into the air, Fox managed to roll out of the way in time for Leon's fist to leave a considerable dent in the floor where Fox's head once was. Fox instantly retaliated kicking off of the back of his neck while driving both feet into Leon's face...the lizard however caught his footing and grasped the fox by the tail whipping him into a nearby wooden create like some living flail, causing the create to burst into fragments and splinters. Fox lay on the other side of the wreckage seeing stars, his head had hit something hard on the inside of the create. Leon leaped over the mass of broken wood only to contact solid ground. Leon didn't even have time to react as something heavy was swung into the side of his head knocking him back over the crates. He managed to shake the cobwebs out of his head in time to see Fox tossing a broken rifle aside; Fox was flying half blind...fresh blood pooled from a large cut on his forehead. Leon grasped his bleeding jaw pulling it to one side resulting in a loud crunch as it was set back into it's join, he then proceeded by spitting out a large clot of blood coupled with the fragmented remains of two or three teeth. Fox suddenly leaped onto the creates then quite a height into the air, in an attempt to bring a fight ending axe kick onto the lizard's skull. As he rolled out of the way the sound of Fox's boot on the floor made his ears ring as the floor imprinted around his foot. Leon rolled to his feet and met Fox head on, punches and kicks began to collide with one another...eventual breakthroughs pounding out potential bruises and possible breaks into one another's faces and ribs. After a staggering punch to the face Fox fell back a bit, but recovered launching himself into a bizarre acrobatic, horizontal spin driving his heel across the top of the lizard's head, and as soon as his free foot touched the floor he threw himself backward striking Leon under his chin in the midst of the back flip. Leon staggered back as his vision became a blur...the first kick had laid a massive cut in the chameleon's forehead which was now blinding him with his own blood, he tried to say something but, the second of the kicks had broken his jaw in several places. By now the two were horribly damaged, Fox was still recovering from his impact with the crates as well as the brutal punches and kicks he'd received, while Leon suffered from the impressive display by Fox. Fox, noticing that Leon was on the ropes jolted toward the lizard who made an absurdly quick move to one side. Fox almost fell to the ground in pain as he noticed a small black knife jutting from his side...Leon had at some point picked up James's knife. Fox started to loose consciousness but, forced himself into a stable state of mind and with a new rage sped into his opponent, his next spin kick reversing Leon's left knee in it's socket forcing him to one knee...Fox bared his claws which he sharply drug across the lizard's neck, but didn't give him time to go. Fox bent down and picked up Leon's knife and slammed the blade between the chameleon's eyes quickly snapping the blade off and kicking the dead animal in the side of the head one more time before picking up the statue and as quickly as possible making his way back to the arwings...
(AN: Well I got some requests for a hand2hand fight with Fox...seems like someone saw this coming. Well I've been up writing this chapter till 4 o'clock in the morning so...R&R let me know whats up...peace out...and good night...errr...morning. Till next time)