Wolf smiled. The black furred bear frowned. Wolf's smile was somewhat shy, as if he were saying sorry – or perhaps mocking the old bear.
"Fuck." Wolf said, as he turned to Krystal looking kinda bummed. "Leave it to the universe to throw the one remotely stupid incident of my criminal career up in my face."
"... You know, for such an epic speech..."
"I know. Krystal, Meet Ursa Saragosa. Owner of the Saragosa Space Station."
"Former owner." The bear's extraordinarily thick accent cleaved the fur from Krystal's spine, it felt like. Made her skin crawl. "Disss... Wolf man... stole it in a rigged poker game... but such are the stakes... in pirates poker." He smiled. He glared at Wolf, then laughed, opening his arms wide. "WOLF! AH! It has been too long my young pup! If I were not sure I could catch your mange, I would kiss you, you filthy mongrel!"
"Ursssaaaaa, Old man, if I wasn't sure your fat would swallow me whole, I'd hug you." They laughed, and shook hands, though, Krystal, still slightly baked on the spectra fruit, could see pain racing through both of their forms.
"Boys, play nice. Shaking each others hands THAT hard isn't exactly attractive."
"Ahhhh, and who is this lovely woman, Comerade? A wench from a bar?"
"You could say that, Comrade Saragosa, or you could say..." Krystal turned her most venomous, wilting gaze on him. "That she's the wench who could rip out your spine for funzies." Her overly excitded tone left it's self ringing hollow with the withering expression on her face.
Wolf blinked. That took some serious balls. To look at the Kingpin of the Zoness Mafia like that... He smirked. She had more balls than he did, most days.
Ursa slowly turned to Wolf. "When you find a woman, you find the one who could kill you and I both with one hand, eh, comerade? AH! I LIKES HER COMERADE!" And with that, She was swept into a bone-crushing bear-hug. She Yelped. Wolf just covered his muzzle, trying not to laugh.
"Gosa, don't kill her dude. Remember, not all of us are Saturn Born."
"Right! Right, my friend!" He set down the now disheveled (And barely clothed) blue fox down. She staggered a bit, and bristled before she settled back down, a little winded, but no worse for the wear.
Gosa had given them fresh clothing (And a not so gently requested shower. - They reeked.) "You know, Gosa..." Wolf said, running the drying cloth over his head fur, looking at the bigger, brawnier bear. "I half expected you to kill me dead. I'm alive. So this leads me to - " he was cut off by the sound of a screaming vixen, a very injured bird, and a whole plethora of anti-feather sentiment and bile. He sighed. "I told you bastards not to look in on her." He looked back at the bear. "What do you need done?"
"A smart pup you are, comerade! Come. I shall show you."
"Give me a brief once over on it, I want Krystal there for the explanation."
"I'm here." "GWAAHHHH!" "And the next dirty son of a perverted rabbit that looks at me cross ways is getting THEIR BALLS SERVED ON A PLATTER!" Krystal finally removed her combat boot from the bird's stomach, and kicked him firmly in the ribs as she stepped towards Gosa and Wolf.
"... That was a quick damn shower."
"What, I ain't some shaving lunatic. I'm a mercenary, I don't worry if my hand fur is getting long or if I'm perfectly cropped down below. Hell. I've got more important shit to do, and besides, a real woman can do that kind of stuff in three minutes flat. And that was a ten minute shower." She rolled her eyes, and shook out her hair, the normally pinned up head fur falling down her back, the military issue oversized shirt falling off a shoulder, and the camo fatigue cargo pants dropping low on one hip, her tail wagging slightly. She wasn't trying for pretty or proper, she was trying for get shit done mode.
"... I likes dis one, Wolfie. Yous should keeps her! Much betters than that Rins womans yous ran around wif."
"Who's Rin?"
"Old flame."
"Ah." Krystal let it drop, following the big bear and the stocky wolf.
The bridge of the "Black Wind" - Ursa's boat - was a shoddy sight. The Holotable barely functioned, and it was downright cramped, but, it was a bridge none the less. Rusted metal was exposed on the sides of the bridge. Krystal was a bit shocked at... how underequiped these deep space warriors that could outsmart the entire cornerian navy were. She doubted any AI could take over this flying death tub. Gosa stepped up to the holo table and kicked it so hard the boat shook. Wolf didn't even blink, even as Krystal grabbed his arm. She inwardly winced as he softly stepped away from her, his aura - what vestiges of it she could see - flaring defensively and pleading with her to remain at a distance.
"Here, my comerades, is my goal. Dere is a new buyir for dis, how to say, 'Spectra' flowers. Dey is quite rare off of Sauria, but dey exist – in specifics, dey exsista in very few places. We will be sending you to a confirmed locality – where dis is exactly, you shoulds not know. Plausible Deniability."
"First Isle."
"And The Wolfie in One! HA! So smart, this Pup! No shuddel, no weapons... we just relaunch your life-pod. Yous will be going at near jump speeds, so yous will be landing in minutes."
"Who's the buyer?"
"I thoughts that was outside of scope of your business, Star Wolf?"
"Not any more. Star Wolf is dead. Defunct. We're freelancing, but, I won't work without names this time. Sorry, Gosa. Times change. So do people."
"I... I cannot gives you this informations. They holds something dear to me."
"... Saragosa... Fine. But this is the only time."
"I sees. This is to be the big scores for my mens."
"Alright. So, go in, snatch the Spectra, hide it, fetch it later, claim inability to steer Lifepod?"
"Das is plans, yes? But nos – wes be comings ins. Pick ups on da sights, yes? We is... making its beleieves ables."
"Great. A hot drop into a military guarded base."
"Sounds fun, Wolf."
"Fun is getting drunk at a night club and starting a jello wrestling match for the ladies." Wolf shook his head. "This? This is gonna be hell."
"Good. You and I both need some exercise."
"Scuse me lady, but... nevermind, actually." Wolf sighed. She was digging a hole. Ursa's expression was resting on Wolf, and getting a bit sour.
"I thought so. What's the pay?"
"Krystal..."
"Hmm?" She looked at the handsome Steel Wolf beside her.
"... You do realize that this mission is basically the 'fee' for saving our lives, to most of these men, including Gosa, right?"
"... What?"
"Da Wolfie is rights. Wes gits yous out of the Lifepods. We gives you showers and clothses. Much mores than most pirate guilds gives 'rescues'. Yous new to Wolfie's life, yes?"
"... So basically, You're saying we do this, or we trip out of the air lock?"
Gosa went pale. Wolf just blinked at her. "... I really let the ball drop, didn't I? You don't quite understand the... pirate modus operandi."
"No, no, not really."
"Well... To a Pirate... cash is nothing. I shit you not, cash, out here, amongst the pirates, is shit paper."
"You didn'ts' takes our backups, dids you girl?"
"That's what the money was – ew."
"Yeah... Cash doesn't buy anything out here. Blood, favors, and supplies do. Andross understood that. The Cornerians don't. Why do you think Fox is always broke?"
"I... didn't realize."
"Cash is a platitude. It's a myth to these men. Some of em are Pirate born. The sons of the Dregs of Lylat. That's why I never built a cruiser. A pirate Cruiser is... nothing. Seriously. This is all Gosa has left of a huge fleet he lost for Andross."
"Wolfie is rights. Out heres, in the dead zones, there ares no patrols. No traders. Dere are lanes for dat things. Wes live off de stars – growing our own foods. Buying kibble only when necessaries. Pirates ares nots some criminal scums, girl."
"Gosa speaks true. Lylans say pirate, and they think pirate on the ocean. Not in the stars. In the stars? We buy and sell on blood and food. Some of these men, they're debts, paid in blood. We don't opperate in fighters. That's why my Squadron was unique. We did. Most pirates fly these tubs. And all of them are dead-space capable."
Wolf smirked. "This, Krystal, is our reward. Getting planet side, with no 'escorts', no... strings. This is the closest thing to a payment you'll ever see in the stars."
"Cap'n Gosa! Retrofits complete! She's ready for launch."
"I'd stay and play poker with you, Gosa, but, I ain't got much to lose."
"Nor gain, my old friend."
"Thank you for the lesson, Gosa." Krystal bowed. At least, now she knew how to deal with pirates in deep space. A valuable lesson, considering the Company she had attached herself too.
"Ah, it is nothings, pups. Wolfies, you keeps her close, yes?"
"... Why do they always assume We're... you know, knocking boots?"
"Eh?" Krystal looked at him oddly.
"Gosa assumed we were a couple couple. Don't get me wrong here, but... man, that's just a red flag out here."
"What do you mean?" She asked, truely curious. She wanted to know why, exactly, this strange world she had just visited required him to keep her at arm's length.
The lifepod lurched forward, zooming towards Zoness. "uff... basically, Women are a commodity. At least, out here." Wolf shrugged. "For most pups, women are toys, bought and sold like cattle."
"Ugh..." Krystal closed her eyes and tutted in distaste.
".. It's one of the reasons I'm getting out. Shit like that. It's... It's no way to live. Pirates are so poor, and usually, the only thing they're good at is taking care of age old equipment. They can't get out of that life. So they just dig in deeper. It's killing the society they've made."
"So... why exactly do you feel so attached to the society Wolf?"
"... They've lost everything... and it's slowly killing them."
The lifepod went silent. Space screamed by as they flew towards Zoness.
The impact was rough, but survivable. They quickly rolled out, sirens blaring from the military compound in the distance. "Shit. Warm welcome huh."
"Yeah. Let's move."
They ran, at full pace. Trees made of crystalline bark inter-spaced the island freely, while still living trees slowly rotted away under the plague-like symptoms of the crystalline forest. The sense of cold and death surrounding them was palpable, and the smell of rotted leaves and the earthy smell of feral crap was enough to remind you that civilization was underrated.
Krystal followed close behind wolf, and blinked as he went to all fours, bounding through the trees much faster than she thought he could. "Wait! Don't run so fast!"
"Give in to the beast, Krystal. This is a forest, not a city." He said. He stopped for just a moment ahead of her and nodded his head. "Trust your instincts. I'll keep you from going feral."
She sighed, and nodded, going down to all fours as well, and she blinked. It felt a lot more natural, and a whole lot faster. Not so much need to balance... her tail, a guide, not a balance. It was good. They took off again, moving much faster – fast enough to outrun a slow vehicle. Wolf suddenly began to slow, and Krystal came to rest beside him as he crouched, looking out across the field. "Shit... Look there."
"Guards... But those are Spectra plants. Look at the surrounding grass though... it's..."
"Frozen stiff. The blood of Angels... never thought I'd see it till now."
"This is going to be tough. That ice-grass will screw us over. Can't walk on it without making sounds."
"True..." Wolf began to sniff hard, and Krystal blinked. "... w-Wolf? Are you a-actually going to... sniff a way through?"
"No." he sniffed harder, and began to track his way north. Krystal followed on her hind legs this time, a little spooked at how much of a high she was still on from running like that. He quickly turned, and began to dig at the base of a frozen tree, whimpering a bit occasionally.
"Wolf? Why are you whimpering?"
"Cause this damn tree is fricking cold. Ah. Here we are."
"Eh? OH! Wait, what is that?"
"It's a spectra root."
She blinked. "How can you tell?"
"My brother was feral. I remember this kind of thing. We'd have hunting contests, one sniff of something, and we'd have to find it. So I learned to remember smells perfectly." He smirked. "Well, not like you remember things... but... practice makes perfect." He said, and grabbed at the root, and tugged. It snapped, and he pulled a little harder.
"What exactly are you going to -"
"The first wolf began a tradition when they landed. They would first bury the blood of the angels, and give homage to the nature of the fruit, and from the tree's fruit, they could all partake. Look at this tree. Know what kind it is?"
"Uhh..."
"Pecan." He said with a smirk. "So it stands to reason, there's... yes!" he smirked, pulling up a clump of dirty, nasty root, and three frozen spectra fruit within. "Here. It's old but it should still work."
He handed one of the dirty fruits to Krystal. She blinked. "... I'm supposed to eat a two thousand year old spectra fruit?"
"If you don't want to, save it. Me, though... I'm going to."
And with that, Wolf brushed off the fruit, long buried, and consumed it. "SHIT! Fetching cold as hell! Nnh..." He shook his head, and looked at Krystal – and saw a leaf floating behind her so slowly as to be taking a year to reach the next tree. He nodded. Farther out, nearly fifty yards away, time was normal. He finished his fruit and shook his head. He pocketed the second, after cleaning it. And then he took off for the field.
Krystal blinked, he had bitten into his fruit, and then he was nothing but a blur. As he got further away, she realized that the fruit was much, much more powerful on zoness. She staggered a moment, a head-rush hitting her, the smell of the fruit in her hands overpoweringly sweet. She sighed, and bit into it. And the world lit up with electric purple 'fire' – everything around her showed it's EM signal, and she gasped. She savored the bitter, cold taste of the fruit, thinking of blackberries and strawberries in dark chocolate with water fresh off of a glacier. She looked out towards wolf, and blinked.
He was nothing but a trail of one very specific emotion. Calmness. But as she stared, she realized, there were two colors in his aura... the deep Grey she came to find comfort in was calm and smooth, firmly defined. He knew himself. But within that, was a boiling, vicious red, pure, unadulterated fury, seething just below the surface. And then she heard the guns going off.
Wolf's 'time compression' or whatever it was, he hadn't bothered to name it, was strong right now, but as he ran, he realized he could pull it back, slow a smaller area more intensely, or slow a huge area by mere degrees. He left his 'influence' large as he charged in, and tackled the first man, and watched him slam on the ground so hard and his boned crushed under the impact. Wolf blinked. The man bounced, his body flipping end over end, his body accelerating the farther it got from wolf, until he watched the man slam on the ground nearly one hundred foot away, bleeding and broken. Wolf turned, the nearest man raising his rifle, the bolts of charged light swishing at him quite fast. He tightened up his 'field' and watched them slow to a crawl. He dashed for the other man.
Krystal watched. Wolf was fast, but he was slowing light to a crawl. There was no 'blue shift' around him, though as the light traveled through his aura, it definitely changed colors. The heavier he seemed, the slower the light. But that's not what shocked her. Wolf stepped behind the soldier, and thumped him. The soldier flew forward as if he were blown forward by an explosion. He tore through the gate, and slammed amongst the frozen field of spectra. Wolf dashed through the hole, guns firing at him like lightning, and he began to pick up the crystals. "Shit... wolf... Hurry... "
Wolf was letting his mind tick away the 'seconds' he felt like he was living – knowing his count was off. He turned, and dashed, running as hard as he could for the trees. And He felt things getting faster. "No... no no no!"
"WOLLLFFFF!" Krystal shouted as the beams of light began to catch up to him. She looked around, and growled, grabbing a fallen, crystalline branch. She turned, and brandished it as she had her staff, for all those years, and swung it wide, focusing hard on what she needed. "JUMP!" She shouted as a thin blue wave followed her slashing motion, quickly becoming a moving barrier of distortion.
"Shit. Krys, what the hell is that..." He said as he jumped as hard as he could his tail fur beginning to smolder as he somersaulted over the wave of energy. Just over the tree line, he saw a junky looking gold and dull red freighter flying low over the trees to the east. He heard lazer hit wall, and ducked behind a tree, panting.
"What the hell did you just DO, wolf?"
"I don't know, alright! Talk later! Run away now! To the east!"
"Right!" She dropped the branch, and ran with wolf, hauling ass though the forest towards the east.
"Commerade!" Saragosa shouted. "Hurry! Dey is cominks!"
"Get this tub out of here, Gosa!" Wolf shouted as he and Krystal leapt for the doorway – and found themselves grabbed. Wolf dropped his Crystals, and blinked. "Wh-"
"Sorry Commerade. Leon Sends his Regards! And he thanks you for yous helps!" Gosa said this without joy or pride or happiness. He said it with sadness. "I Am sorriez, Commerades."
"GOSA!" Wolf shouted, fury boiling over his 'calm' state, and he jerked. "Shit..."
"Wolf..." She said, looking around as fifty men surrounded them, holding lazers set to stun.
"Krys... Run... run now..."
"No where to go wolf..."
"Run... from... me..." he said, and she looked back at him. She stumbled, gasping. He was snarling so hard his eyes were beginning to bleed. His gums looked torn and he looked furious. She scooted back quickly.
"Can't... cont-RAGH!" Wolf felt the lasers pelt his back, and he went down, the world fading so quickly it nearly scared him for the rest of his life.
Krystal, however, had an entirely different experience.
Being hopped up on spectra is one thing. Being hopped up on the strongest spectra you've ever had and being a EM reader who's well practiced with the effects of spectra, and being stunned by a laser blast is something completely different. Almost transcendent.
Out of body experiences, are, inherently, weird as all hell. That's simply the nature of the act. You're dreaming about your body. Like you're in a video game. The sensations your body feel are psycho-projected on the canvas of your imagination, and basically, you imagine what you think is happening to you. Krystal knew it was an out of body experience. So she knew she wasn't dead. Unless she was now a ghost, but that was just wayyy too weird to think about.
So, she ended up having one of the strangest dreams of her life. And it went weirder than that.
"Wolfie..." Krystal held up the spatula. "I've made dinner for you." She shook her tail over her naked rump, her apron providing the only protection. She looked at the shirtless stud-muffin at her table as he just looked at her with those dark, hungry eyes. The dream began to take a turn for the erotic as it changed. She merfed inwardly. Why couldn't she be lucid?
"You are Lucid."
"... Wh... What?"
"You are quite lucid indeed. I apologize for interrupting your you time."
She turned. A solid black raven, muscular, tall, and with eyes the color of pearls looked at her. "Who are you?"
"Raven." He said simply. While the name was unimaginative, she had the feeling it had more of a connotation to it than she truthfully wanted to know. Or perhaps it was Raven himself, pushing for an end of the topic.
"You're a pusher. Spectra addict like me, but a thought pusher."
"Quite. It's how I can penetrate your mind right now. Your guard is down, only at this moment. It's been quite a task, sitting at the ready in a Steel tube in the middle of space, hooked up to still living spectra, and expected to give a telepathic message to the three people I was looking for." Raven smiled. "But... I am no addict. I take no rush from this... after all. The Spectra destroyed my planet, Metyaneo."
"... Why does that name sound f- Meteo?"
The raven laughed, a joyous sound. "It was harder to reach Wolf than it is you. I suppose that is good. There are things that must be explained. But not here. You will very soon meet a doctor, assigned to torment you. His name is Marcus Lazarus Ka'shar. He will be key to escaping. And you must come to Meteo. The sooner, the better. Prophet says that the gates of hell will open, within the year. That could mean tomorrow, or it could mean three hundred and sixty two days. But prophet is never wrong."
"Wait... A prophet?"
"Surely you don't think, with all you know of the spectra, that the gods are content to remain hidden beyond the walls of reality? The Krazoa angered them, and they were stricken down. How do you think your kind will fare?"
"Wh- what are you talking about?"
"It is our way. Riddles and half truths. We of the split tongue cannot lead a horse to water. But we can make it drink."
"... if you speak in half truths.. Oy. Riddles suck." She said testily. And then, It was over.
But not before the thought pusher had been kind enough to set her mind back to that recurring dream where Wolf decided to take her like a wild -
"Krystal?"
"SHIT!" She decked him as she came out of her dream. And then she blinked. She'd just punched wolf so hard he was growling on the ground.
"Oh damn... that hurt..."
"Ohmygod, Wolf! I'm so sorry! I just was having this really good dream, but then it got weird, and then it was reeeeaaaalllly good again, and I thought it was about to get weird again."
"... remind me never to stun you." He shook his head roughly. "You've been out for twelve hours. I was out for six."
Already shirtless, and sweaty (The room was a fucking oven.) Wolf went back to his common brig routine.
"Well. Least you can do is excersize. Never know when you'll need the strength you can develop behind bars." And he began to do sit ups, counting in his head. Krystal just watched.
"Gonna do some with me, or are you just gonna stan-" she got up. She put her foot on his chest, and looked down at him. "Krys?"
"... Wolf. You woke me up. We're alone. In a very very hot room. And you really, really don't want to know what kind of dream you just woke me up out of. So. If you insist of flexing your … your... de... your abs, would you kindly stop? Before... Ah..."
"Shut up and get down here already."
"Wolf, if we do this..."
"You can either do these with me, or participate in a completely different kind of exercise, because I am not going to sit here with my thumb up my ass waiting on the firing squad."
"... If... if firing squads are involved..." She said as she put her feet on either side of Wolf's hips, and pulled him up to a standing position. She looked at him deep. Those eyes – off color as they were, they penetrated down deeper into her than she could ever look into him. "Just... Wolf, I'm a virgin."
Wolf didn't even twitch. "Then tell me this. Do you trust me?"
"Yes. With my life."
"Will you trust me even when you think I'm wrong?"
"Yes." The questions were making her weak in the knees.
"Do you promise that until WE decide, as two people, that we're done, I'll be the only one?"
"Yes." She said. She had no doubt in her mind. Wolf was the man she had dreamed up as a teenager, the man she had wanted since she was hitting her first heat. Wolf was Wolf. And she wasn't sure, but she thought he was swearing to be her wolf.
"Then I swear it to. Love me or don't. Hate me or don't. Trouble, prosperity, anything that comes our way. I'll be there. I swear on my creed, breed, and name." Wolf looked so intense that moment, it was liable to melt pig iron.
"Oh Wolf..." She said, the line filled with cheesy emotion. She wrapped her arms around him, and held him tight. "That's... What do you... mean by all that?" Fear set in rather quickly as she thought about his words.
"... If I tell you, tell me you won't stop."
"I won't."
He wrapped his arms around her, finally feeling close to something, for the first time in his life since the event in his childhood. Since he ruined a man, since he ruined his future, since his life was stolen from him to leave him dead inside. And now, he felt alive. Like he had pack, once again. Real pack. True, loving Pack. "It's... an old wolf promise. It's called the 'swear of shame.' Shaming a wolf is... very much a part of our culture. Wolves don't allow another wolf to take it's life because... we are required to live with our shame. Breaking a promise like this... is akin to ending my life." He said this heavily. "In the old days, your name was stripped, and you were stripped from your 'breed records' – how the old wolves of the Zoness Imperials maintained a list of those born into 'pure blood' families." Wolf smiled at her. "It means, Krystal... That I'm willing to go to any lengths to keep a promise to you."
"And... what do you... promise?" She looked up at him.
"I promise to protect you. To keep you safe, whatever the cost to me, or my family. To make sure that you, Krystal Fox, are safe. And..." Wolf looked down at her, the words catching in his throat.
Krystal heard the door. She willed Wolf to speak faster.
"I promise to L-"
"Krystal Ocean Blue."
Krystal turned in Wolf's grip so violently he gasped. Krystal shrieked in terror.
Venom
"... I'm in. Laundry." Falco tossed the paper 'chit' (On toilet paper, no less.) into the growing pile.
James frowned. Falco was taking a big risk. Laundry was the best chore in the stack. It was the easiest. James grinned wickedly. "I'll see your laundry, and raise you a head."
Head duty, that meant the old fox either had a great hand, or he was bluffing. Throwing in the worst chore to do caused Slippy to gasp. He wasn't playing this hand, having lost all of his 'get out of chore free' chits last hand to Fox's well played bluff of two twos.
Fox snickered. "All in."
They both looked at fox. "Son... You sure you should be bluffing, this hand I have is a little better than the lowest pair in the game."
"Oh I'm sure, pop." Fox looked at his full house. No diamonds, but... it was a good hand. He was confident he could win. And he wanted to show it. Falco pushed all his chits in, too. "Check." The bird said, looking as his low clubs straight flush.
"Check." The wizened old fox said, pushing forward his chits. "This will make or break us all boys. Eighty Chits in the pot... so who's going chore-less for a while?"
Fox slammed down his full house. "Read em and weep boys, FULL HOUSE IN THE HOUSE!" He reached for the chits.
"Not so fast, Star Fox!" Falco said in his best imitation Wolf voice. "Straight club flush, IN YO FACE! Ha! No more flushing duty for me!" The defeated fox slammed his head dejectedly on the table. Falco reached for his pile, but his hand was caught by James. "Don't be so hasty, Falco. You haven't seen my hand yet."
"Well, don't keep us waiting! Show us how badly you lost!"
"Well, I hate to say it, but, my highest card happens to be this Ace of Diamonds."
"Is that All, old man? An ace won't beat a Straight Flush!"
"Oh? But if I throw down this bejeweled King and his bride... That wouldn't bother you?"
"... not at all, ya old fart! Ain't no way you have the son of that old rich couple."
"Ah. But, see, I do. And I have the one card you don't want to see in this deck too. Knight of Diamonds to top it off."
"... no w... WHAT! YOU CHEATED! HOW IN THE-"
"Now now boys. I don't cheat. It's alllll instinct." He smiled wickedly, pocketing his chore chits with a grin as the three boys groaned. "Oh, But you never know when I'm going to spend these, do you?"
Bweeeeeeee – The main door came open. James made a motion – no one moved as Leon came in, dragging in a few familiar faces. "Wretches – You really think I would PAY?"
"Didn't know you were the one hosting that damn rigged race, you bastard – YOU OWE ME A SHIP!" Katt Monroe gnashed her teeth at the Chameleon. "I Will WEAR YOUR SKIN AS A BELT you fucking piece of criminal TRASH! I swear, when WOLF HEARS ABOUT YOUR CHEATING!"
"Well, isn't that a shame. Wolf's dead, you little pussy." Leon Bitch slapped her so hard her head clonked against the ground, knocking her cold. Falco jerked up to go to her, and got a low power laser blast in the chest, sending him skidding, with their card table, across the deck of the hideous cement bunker. "Heyyyy!" Fox shouted. Leon turned his laser to the offended canine. Fox lifted up his hands with a frown. "Just aggravated you trashed the table is all."
"You better be. Filth. Get those other two in here!"
"Some trophy celebra- Oxian!" A tan furred Fennec fox stumbled in, looking at James in shock. "Tiber!"
"Fara." He said with a nod and a smile. "Meet my son, Fox McCloud."
"Get in there you fucking WHORE!" Leon kicked her in the rear, sending her tripping over Katt Monroe, and right into the slightly smitten Fox.
"Ooph!"
"Ack!" Fox laid there, looking up at the handcuffed woman. "Hi." He said.
"Hi."
"Oh how fucking Sweet. PTOO! Get in here, lucky number one."
"LET ME GO! GET YER FILTHY SCALEY HANDS OFF OF ME LIZARD BREATH! LEMME GOOOOOOO!" A pink colored poison arrow frog was tossed into the room, and the bindings on her wrist vanished, armed men collecting the other bindings.
"Well, Gents..."
"Wait." James said, looking at Polawski. Leon blinked, and looked back at him.
"What's all this for?" James said it with a shrug.
"Hmm? Oh. I'm using your genetic material in cloning experiments started with Andross' Research."
"Similarians?" James stood up in shock.
"No. The Similarian was an aberration caused by using Cernian Spectra. The Saurian result was no better. With a greater Genetic Diversity pool, and a much more sizable sample of Zonessian Spectra, I have a much better feeling about this batch." Leon grinned wickedly. "And besides. The two best pilots in the Lylat system, the only ones capable of stopping me, are locked in here. Anyone else with talent is either being killed, or rounded up as we speak."
"So. You're going to clone us, and make super soldiers?"
"No. no no noooo... Cloning you? That's Ameture. I am doing something muccchhhh more elegant. Far more elegant than anything our friend Andross tried to do. You seen, being born schizophrenic has given me... Shall we say... a unique perspective. It allows me to see beyond that which the normal moral issues most would have with developing a hybrid species capable of natural em manipulation. You are all the perfect physical specimens, able to handle fully unlocked Arwing systems. Which means... You will all be the basis of my … evolutionary revolution."
"What?"
"Observe. This … is the result of the Spectra Serum on a living Lylan subject."
Ursa Saragosa was rolled into the room. Two pistols were thrown down to the floor. "You see, I only need your genetic materials – I'm certain I'll be able to sort out the details after you see what the Zoness Serum does to a Lylan. Oh, and try not to die too close together. I have a lovely young woman who needs my... hehehe... rapt... attention.." The last words were said with such a heavily venomous tone, it could have melted the flesh from Jame's bones. Then Leon jabbed a needle into Ursa's neck. And Quickly left the room. "Seal it. Full lock down, no one within two hundred yards of this place, until we've cleared it out again."
Ursa Saragosa screamed in agony as the crew began to revive themselves and watch in horror as the massive Bear began to change... dramatically, and irrevocably.
Zoness
"KYAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Wolf pulled her around, and looked at the man in a pale white suit, black shades on his face, and a black lab-coat on. "Nomoretests, Nomoretests, nomorenonono" he could hear Krystal saying. Wolf hid her protectively.
"Winston Wolf O'Donnell. I remember you. Peppy Hare is on his way. How does the eye function?"
"... Perfectly. Why?"
"Because. I made it. I wanted to see the mother of Spectra Technology and the first functional Child of Spectra Technology first hand." He looked a little worried about Krystal, but kept his mouth quiet - perhaps this was some unknown side effect of prolonged spectra exposure he didn't know of? It would Certainly explain why the Bio-lab's crowning achievement's affections lay with that weird little girl...
"What do you mean?"
"He means, Wolf..." Peppy said, as he looked into the cell. "That your girlfriend there, is not only a national treasure, she is the only natural EM user alive in the Lylat system currently. Leon killed the rest."
"Natur- She has to get stoned on Spectra to even use her gifts."
"She can do it without spectra. She just doesn't know how. And Now, I know her real name."
The quaking, blue fox behind wolf was crying. Hard.
"What the HELL did you fuckers do to her?"
"Not us. The Cernian Government. Krystal, It's okay."
"P-... Peppy?" She peeked out at him, and quickly dived back.
"Get the tester to go away. No more tests. EVER."
"Te... Tester?" The doctor said it with a raised eyebrow. "... Excuse me, but, I am no tester. I am Doctor Marcus Lazarus Ka'shar. And I in no way will EVER perform a... godawful experiment like what those Cernian bastards did to you, Krystal... Hell, my entire doctorate was devoted to ways to test your powers WITHOUT such invasive, torturous procedures! - Well, my second doctorate. My first was in physics... Third in Mechanical engineering..." He shook his head, noticing he was rambling. They didn't need to know about his five doctorates. The bobcat looked into the cell, and then bowed. And then, as if to please his own ego, thought, 'Physics, medicine (Minoring in Bio-sciences.), Mechanical Engineering, Aero-Astral engineering, Artificial Intelligence - and I really should go back and finish that computer programming PH.D. I was working on...' His thought was interrupted by Krystal speaking up.
"... shades... Take em off." She said, looking at him from Wolf's shadow.
He pulled off his shades with a smile. He looked right at her, both of his eyes a brilliant white, with two black pupils. "I know. The Irises are a bit -"
"Cernian too, Huh?"
He blinked.
"... Born there, yes."
"You smart? Like, really, really smart?"
"... IQ of Four hundred with a Perfect memory. Why?"
"... You escaped them. The testers." She shuddered. "Daddy hid me. But they killed him. Momma hid me, but they killed her. Ripped her to pieces in front of me, to see if I'd kill them. Killed a bunch of them with my hands... Didn't cry till they started the tests..." She planted her claws in Wolf's back. He didn't flinch. "Ocean Blue, turned red and hurt... Strange colors on the doctors. Lylans. Let me lose when I was too old to play with any more. Played in my mind. Left tracks and fingers and places to touch. Tools are gone now, can't touch them any more. Tried to live normal. Couldn't. Tools make it hard, no thought, just pain. Andross came. Killed them all. Took the comfort. Killed his men. Stole daddy's old freighter. Ran to comfort..." She said, the voice delivering it was cold and heartless.
"... I... What?"
"You escaped. You never... had to feel... them poking around inside you. Defiling parts of you you can't fathom... You escaped. Your parents ran... because you're a freak. Like me. Different color, different mind. Broken somehow, deep inside. Black and white... What are you?"
"... Mao Bobcat. They said I was born albino, but in reverse."
"Switched around. Broken deep down. Genes, genetics, poked and prodded, twisted up and pulled out my soul. You escaped... You made it out. Not like... not like they tried to get me out before they killed my daddy when he hid me. When they hid my momma and then showed her to me to show me what would happen if I didn't help them."
"Peppy... Ka'Shar... you two should leave."
"Wo-" Peppy looked like something in his heart was snapping in half from the sight he was seeing - This woman he loved like a daughter was hurting this badly... all over seeing Ka'Shar's labcoat? Ka'Shar was furious by now, realizing the depths of just how depraved Maelice must have been. She always had a rather... forceful presence around him, resulting in more than his fair personal consumption of their harvested spectra supply.
"NOW!" His voice brokered no disagreement.
She sobbed behind him, and he turned. Wolf's arms wrapped around her.
Fury wracked Ka'Shar's form as he stomped out of the prison block. "Peppy... What the FUCK is going on here? The scream when she saw me, everything in there - That was COMPLETELY backwards from how I thought it would be!"
"I don't know, Marcus. The Central Lab better have some damn answers though. Krystal didn't cry like that when I picked her up after she and Fox split up. There is something that smells like shit right now."
"... I quit. Well, I quit the position in this base I have at least."
"Good. I'm offcially hiring you on retainer as a mercenary liason, who's about to help me find out just what in the FUCK is going on in this base." Peppy began stepped, quickly, towards the heart of the underground base as Marcus stripped off patches and things from his clothing.
Marcus stepped into the lab, his lab coat torn off, his shades crushed in his grip.
"Marcu-"
"Get them off. Now. EVERYONE. The lab-coats. GET THEM OFF! BURN THEM!"
"What's going on here, Ka'Sh-"
"You heard me." Peppy stepped in.
"Overseer Nathans?"
"Yes?"
"What is Project Crimson?" - They had stopped at Peppy's office on the way, and now knew what kind of sick, twisted shit had gone on under their noses, on Cernia.
Nathans went for his gun, but peppy simply pulled his pistol out, and blew his brains all over the nearest doctor. "Right. Who else here was on Cernia? You do realize, that I've already locked this facility down. You won't be found. Ever. Project Crimson. I want the files. Now."
"Admiral Hare..." A goat stepped in from the other room - He had known, ever since Peppy had been assigned to dig up old ghosts, this one would bite him in the ass. But he knew, He knew he was justified. For what happened to his darling little Sandra...
"Admiral Haru. Weren't you the one who lost the Cernian Colony?"
"... You don't know what kind of Ghosts you're digging up."
"I don't care. I just watched the strongest young woman I know break down into a schizophrenic mess by looking at just one of the lab coats your 'Spectra Research Outpost' scientists wear."
"Marcus? You disobeyed my Direct Order, didn't you?"
"You bastard." Marcus said with venom in his voice.
Haru shot Marcus, the Mao bobcat spinning, and hitting the ground, growling in pain. Peppy lifted his gun and fired, the five shots left in his dress revolver going wide, but sending the goat for cover.
"Admiral Hare! This is Mutiny!"
"You Butchered people, and for what?"
"To determine the risk such people provided to the Lylat System! Andross, in his wisdom, knew to save us all, he had to be the villain!"
"YOU SIGNED OFF ON HIS MADNESS!"
"I'm the one who gave him his orders."
Peppy quaked. Rage flooded him. "You... son... of... a... BITCH!" Peppy grabbed his gun, having already reloaded it.
"YOU KILLED JAMES! PHEONIX! O'DONNELL! YOU SLAUGHTERED INNOCENT PEOPLE, FOR WHAT?"
"I DID IT FOR LYLAT, YOU STUPID BREEDER!" Haru stood up, grabbing a nearby scientist, and putting his gun to her head. He watched Peppy stand up slowly.
"Andross... was your doing?"
"Andross was his own doing. He's the one who stole the Crimson files. He's the one who took the research we had, and turned it against us. We told him to prevent that tragedy. We told him to take what we had learned, and use it to make life better for all Lylat. But he TOOK it! He STOLE ALL MY HARD WORK! I WILL NOT BE MADE A FOOL OF AGAIN! THAT BLUE VIXEN WILL DIE!"
"You... Won't hurt... anyone... else." Marcus pulled out a hold out blaster, and plastered Haru's brains on the ceiling.
Venom
"Lady?" Fox said looking at the Fennec beside him. "Why exactly are you holding me back from getting that gun?"
"Huh?" She said, watching Ursa thrash.
"Fox... Get everyone and run. NOW. GET GONE!"
James dived for the two guns, picking them up and running, as blood began to ooze from every orifice in Ursa's body. The bear screamed and roared in agony as the twenty somethings backed away slowly, too horrified to look away and run. "RUN! NOW! GET - "
Ursa broke free of his restraints, his entire body rippling as his skin literally began to peel away, bones penetrating his flesh, and moving about. His skin fell off, organs piling out across the floor. Slippy vomited. Fox looked away. Falco fainted. Fara Shrieked in terror. Amanda began to sob. Katt picked up Falco. "LET'S MOVE! LET'S GO BOYS AND GIRLS! INTO THAT ROOM!" She shouted, moving the train of people away from the horrific sight as what was left of Ursa Saragosa put his paws in his intestines, rupturing the meat and spilling bile across the floor, his muscles beginning to sloth off as sick, green liquid began to ooze from his joints, muscles swelling beneath his bones, cracking them.
James slammed the door behind them, panting, vomit swelling in his throat. "What the FUCK was that?"
"I...I don't... oh god..." Slippy puked again, Amanda sitting down beside him, patting his back.
The sounds outside the room stopped.
"Daddy..." It said, it's voice so low that it literally shook the cement walls. "The toys are gone..."
Leon's voice came over the speakers. "But child, you saw where the toys went. The maids will clean up. You can make a mess." His voice was sickly father-like. They heard the sound of solid bone clapping together. "YAY DADDYYYYY!"
James backed away from the door, and aimed his blaster at it. Fox took one from his dad, and aimed as well. Slippy roused himself from his stupor. "That... bastard!" He said. Everyone in the room except for Fox and James looked at Slippy in shock.
The door caved in quickly, and the most hideous creature James had ever seen followed the falling door, roaring in agony and rage. It wasn't a person any more. From a plate in it's stomach, obviously the now Deceased Ursa's spine, nerves and tendrils of flesh dragged the remains of the turned-inside-out bear around. Bones covered it's form, the thin, lanky creature with bone-like 'wings' poking from it's back, each wing having a membrane of flowing blood that dripped to the floor, standing patiently, looking at it's toys as it continued changing. Horns erupted from it's head, it's face reminiscent of the skull of a bear.
"Daddy. Can I rape the corpses, or do I have to rape them to death first?"
"Kill them how you please. Rape is merely one tool in your bag of tricks. Try pulling out the orange one's skull."
"But... But... Daddy, TOO MANY ORANGE ONES!" It roared, and got low as the spinal cord of Ursa Saragosa dropped to the ground. Fox and James began to fire as fast as they could. It roared and stumbled back, it's bone armor flashing with power every time a blaster bolt hit it, but it still stumbled.
"OW DADDY! IT HURTS!"
"Channel that pain. Send it back to them, my boy!"
It nodded, and stood tall, a hail of light hammering it's form, and it screamed. A blast of light tore from it's mouth, screaming through the door as heat began to sear the concrete around them. The men and women inside squeezed up to the sides of the room, avoiding the blast.
"Blasters won't work." James said. Fox nodded. "Guess it's claws and paws then!" They both rushed it, punching ti in the stomach. It stumbled again, but this time, it looked PISSED. Two backhands later, they lay crumpled on the ground, bones aching from the force of the backhanded smashes.
"No way." Falco said, stepping into the hall of their prison, beginning to fight with the creature. It was fast, but Falco was faster. He stepped to the left as it swung hard, aiming to fold him in two from the top down in a lasting fashion. He slammed it in the knee with a stiff, swift kick, and Fara charged out, running to flank it.
"Come on you fat hunk of -WHOA!" She slipped on the blood flowing from it's 'wings', slamming against the opposing wall, and groaned as she rolled up slowly, looking at the devil-face of the monster. She screamed and Falco slammed it with a high, spinning kick, his talons poking through his combat boots. It screamed, and spun, flinging him towards the wall. He slammed, back first, against it, blood flying from his beak as he bounced off and landed on his side, curled into a fetal position. The creature ran for him, but felt a massive blow crumple it's leg.
Amanda Frog had just slammed it in the knee with a metal pipe left over from it's explosive exhalation earlier. It just slammed her with it's horns, sending her skidding across the ground. She groaned as the world stopped spinning, and she looked up, seeing Katt Monroe keeping it's attention. Slippy was nowhere to be seen yet.
"Come on you freak! Hit me!" Balanced on her toes, claws gripping the ground, she fought like a prize winning pugilist, hitting only the softer green flesh exposed by it's motions. It roared in agony, and finally, it decided it was done with this toy.
As Fox stumbled to his feet, and Falco joined him, a flying pink ball of fur clobbered them both, the three of them lying on the ground in agony.
It began to stomp towards them, hissing low, the sound shattering lights around the room.
"Hey! Boney!" The sound of a shrill voiced frog cut through the dark. A belt around his waist with a button on it, and another around his left hand. "Pick on someone in your own weight division!"
"Daddy... it sounds funny."
"That it does. Kill it."
It rushed the toad. But Slippy held his ground. It came closer and closer, it's arm raising to bash slippy with all it's might. The swing came fast, but the frog planted his feet, and shot his right hand out, stopping the blow cold, and causing the monster to recoil from it's sudden impact with the 'immovable force' of Samuel Toad. "Come on. That all you got?"
Former linebacker, and heavyweight high-school wrestling champion Samuel Toad wasn't just smart. Sure, he wasn't a hot shot in the sky... but you didn't put together jet planes in space on brains alone. You had strength.
The beast swung again, putting all it's weight into the blow. Slippy moved with the motion. He stepped into it, grabbed the beast's arm, and swung, as hard as he could, shattering the beast's back plate on the ground, and breaking off it's wings. It screamed in agony. "GET UP!" he screamed. His shrill voice belied him, as always.
The beast rolled, and began to walk on his hands, claws on it's feet bared. It slashed at the toad again and again, but Slippy just weaved around them, delivering short, jabbing punches to the shattered and cracked bones on it's back. He didn't give up much ground at all, and then he delivered a world rocking, chambered stomping kick to the beasts face, sending it skidding back as bones fell off of it's back.
Slippy dashed backwards a few steps. He turned around. "There's your weakness, bitch!" he said, and hit his belt, gravity distorting around him because of the hyper-speed acceleration belt. They were only good once, but this seemed like a good enough time. As he dashed forward, his form a blue blur, and activated the belt on his hand. It red shifted as he delivered his most devastatingly powerful left handed haymaker ever.
The creature seemed to ripple as it's bones shattered with the blow, every bone on it's body rocking apart. But then, it tore it's self apart, it's torso ripped in half by the massive light-speed punch. Slippy dropped the belt... and then promptly vomited again, before falling backwards in a heap of blood, exhaustion, and heroism.
Zoness
Wolf stayed curled up behind her throughout the night. They heard gunfire all over the facility. They finally, after nearly a full day, heard the heavy clomping of combat boots. Wolf looked up, and blinked.
"Wolf. Krystal."
"Ka'shar." Krystal peeked at him, and blinked. He didn't at all look like the fit scientist from earlier. He was shot twice, and had his clothes all a mess. He tapped a few buttons. "Admiral Peppy will see you now. We apologize for the poor accommodations. It seems a hold out group of Andross supporters decided to hole up within our research organization. Miss Blue."
"I'm not miss blue."
"Fine. Krystal then. Come on then you two." Ka'Shar hoisted the mini-gun over his shoulder effortlessly. Wolf smirked as he stood up, helping the still exhausted Krystal up beside him. She nodded, and shook her head, walking behind Ka'shar. The halls were long, and mostly secure. They still saw a few breach teams dashing about the complex. "Elenar." the Mao said to a solid white wolf. The Wolf merely nodded. "Keep moving pup." he said as Wolf stepped passed him, blinking in shock. He jerked his thumb back at it – but was answered quite dismissively.
"Yes, It's him. No, he does not do autographs, no, he is not immortal, and yes, he was once dead. Spectra." Wolf just gawked.
"Turns out, a few electromagnetic effects can be reversed. Including a flash absolute zero burst. Very little physical harm came to him during his long sleep. And he's a total douche. You should meet his wife though. Real cutie. Well, we think Mutt is his wife." And with that, the Mao hit a few buttons on a keypad, leaving the dumbfounded Wolf and the still neigh-comatose Krystal to stare at an old hare with his beer gut hanging out of an A-frame, command jacket and flip-top tossed into chairs in the research gallery. He shouted orders to scientists, soldiers, and androids alike.
"God dammit, Marines, I told you to CHECK YOUR FIRE! We need as much of this data un-fried as we can get! I want to know everything Haru had this damn place working on. I will be DAMNED If we lose the Lylat war here."
"War, Peppy?"
"Yes, Wolf. Andross' war is still raging. But these days, it's all politics and science. I brought you in here because I - Damnit, GET AGENT BLACK ON THE LINE, COPORAL! AND FIND ME AGENT RED. NOW! Because I need you to meet someone who's going with you. Doctor Master Sargent Marcus Lazarus Ka'Shar, of 'Project Ruby', step up."
"Sir."
"Wolf, Krystal. I'm about to read you both into the most secret project ever devised by an admiral of the Lylat Systems Government. You two ready?"
"Do we have a choice?" Krystal said, the hubbub of a 'war-zone' slowly pushing her out of her scarred memories.
"No, considering Project Ruby is my way of finding out everything that Joseph O'Donnell had planned when he flew the coop."
"I didn't fly the Coop, old man." A black and gray wolf said, his hat lifting up off his head. "Corporal, don't bother calling 'Agent Black' – He's here. What do you need from LISA, Admiral?"
"Son of a Bi-" Wolf started, but was cut off.
"STOP EVERYTHING." Peppy shouted. The whole room stopped. "Lieutenant Honeypaw. Take over the operations here. Clear out every Andross supporter IN THIS COMPLEX. You bring any evidence of Lylan Experimentation to me, Wolf's team, and Agent black here. We'll be in the command lounge." Peppy said, motioning for them to come with, directly across the hall, into a retrofitted 'quickie room' as wolf called them – It was actually a storage closet, with a kitchenette set and a table. This would be Peppy's home away from bunk.
Peppy slammed the door. "... Wolf, go ahead."
"... WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?"
"... Which one of us should answer that, Paprika?"
"... Son of a bitch, it really is you, Joe. Goddess damned bullshit. What the hell IS going on here? Lisa contracts me to replace Wolf's eye, and this pup has tried to shoot my ass down a time or two, and then they tell me to cut him lose on ZONESS, where he proceeded to kill a kid, and then it's covered up?"
"Leon Polawski knows more about the Andross operation's extent that we think even Andross did. Hell, we're not sure if this all isn't Powell's plan. Oh, that's Powell Polawski. Leon's father."
"And what the hell does that mean?"
"HEY!" Wolf shouted. "I think that's not even a good discussion right now. My father is ALIVE. And I'm about ready to fix that with a rather permanent solution." The gray wolf snarled hard. "What kind of god-fearing furre doesn't die when they're killed?"
"The kind that works for Lisa." Joe smiled. Wolf blinked. "Wait a minute... Agent black... mister black... YOU WERE MY GODDAMNED LISA CONTACT!"
"Yes."
"You... you fucking bastard."
"I am NOT your father, pup. My son would have NEVER let some fox tell him to -" and J.W. Put on his best whiny voice for this one - "Trust your instincts, Wolfie! They make all the pain and suffering go away!- PTEH! What the fuck kind of piece of shit wolf actually listens to that shit? Did me teaching you Moon-Claw not have any damn effect on you? Did letting you stand up for Zerae teach you nothing? We hold our instincts IN CHECK, Because if not, we're godless damned SAVAGES. It's part of being a WOLF. It is part of being an O'DONNELL. Stand up for what's RIGHT, not what is so called JUSTICE in Lylat!"
"You're right, You're not my father, because my father wouldn't be ASHAMED OF HIS SON, doing the things he was taught. I have lived with the shame I have over Randy, and you're going to throw it up in my face?"
"It's ten years coming, pup! Don't you even act like I still can't put yer sorry ass over my knee, boy! I will BUST YOUR ASS so hard your fake eye pops out! You better be glad I got that boy fixed up good as new once you were off world. Because otherwise, I would rip out your damn tail and BEAT YOU WITH IT!"
Krystal, Peppy, and Ka'Shar just watched the two wolves square off and measure penis length. Peppy actually started popping popcorn. "Hey. Give me some of that." Ka'shar said. "Me too, I'm RAVENOUS." Krystal chimed in.
"Old man, Tell me, Is anyone really even dead here? You didn't die, and I'll bet no one else died, either!"
"You think I'd let the government steal my goddamn Family? The one I worked for? The one I BUILT! MY HEART AND SOUL! Oh you're damn stupid."
"Yeah? So why didn't you ever tell me the others were alive? I found mom watching a goddamn PORNO!"
"That didn't make you think, boy?"
"Of course it did! It ripped me apart, old man. You think I WANTED to believe my family was dead? And even if I had found them, they would HATE ME for who I was!"
"Believe it or not pup, EVERY DAMN ONE OF THEM wanted you back. THEY ALL LIKED YOU BETTER'N ME, PUP!"
"WELL GOOD! OLD FUCK, YOU LET US THINK WE WERE ALL DEAD!"
"I swear to the MOON, Pup, I will bust yer ass you take that tone with me one more time!"
"Yeah? Well, let's see who's alpha here, you damned beta."
"... You sonofa-" And the fight was on.
Krystal Yipped as she hopped up on the boxes nearby, Ka'shar and Peppy following suit as the two wolves began scuffling on the ground like a pair of kids fighting over a ball.
Wolf and his father fought, his claws sheathed, just like his fathers – but they weren't play fighting in any form. Wolf reared back as he got on top, and swung as hard as he could, smashing Joe's face to the side. He growled as Joe punched him, hard in the kidney, rolling over, and pushing Wolf up to the wall, grabbing him in an arm bar. Wolf barked as he broke the hold, and bull rushed his father into the opposite wall, punching him high in the ribs. Joe brought his hands down in a massive arc, slamming his son in the spine, but Wolf didn't relent. He lifted his father up, and began to deliver punishing elbows into his ribs, the older wolf returning blows to Wolf's hips and sides.
The growling, tangled ball of fur and fury stayed at the other end of the room. And the microwave dinged. Peppy reached over, but blinked – Krystal already had the bag, munching furiously. "Oh. Well. Guess you and me can split a bag."
"Shh! I can't hear em cussing!" Ka'shar was too focused on the fight to pay attention to the old rabbit. Peppy just sighed and grabbed some of Krystal's popcorn, eliciting a growl from the staved fox.
"Idiot pup bitch!"
"Old fuckin foggey!"
They broke apart, going to fisticuffs, popping each other with short, furious combination punches as they bobbed and weaved. "Still boxing Southpaw, eh boy?"
"And you still weave port!" A massive left hook rocked Joe's world pretty hard, but he spun low, and slammed his shoulder into Winston's gut, pushing him back up against the wall, staining his muzzle fur red below his lips. Wolf kneed his father in the chest, and then felt his pops grab his legs. He backed into the wall, keeping his pops from slamming him down, and delivered two punishing punches to Joe's ribs, and kicked his knee, pushing him back. As his pa stumbled back, He swung hard, smashing Joe in the eye, and then getting his world rocked by a punishing right uppercut, stumbling back into the wall. He Pushed off, swinging again, hitting his pop square in the chest.
The dog fight was intense, no doubt. They both had fat lips and bloodied eyes before it ended.
Wolf bobbed right, and blocked his pops next blow, his right hand going back and chammbering full. "Over!" he shouted, spooking his pop into a weak guard. The massive, right handed uppercut sent J.W. Flying back into the wall, and he growled, sliding down the wall to his ass, Wolf standing over him. He panted loud. "Asshole... Pack's MINE now. O'Donnell AND Blue, the pack is MINE now." Joeseph raised his hand. "Right... yours... Unh..."
"Don't go to whining now, ya mongrel. Get up and apologize to me, you asshole." He held out his hand. Joe took it reluctantly. "Now, what'dya say, J.W?"
"Sorry I didn't tell you your family was alive." Joe popped his jaw around and winced. "Shit. You have to hit me so hard?"
"What the hell, you weren't even PULLING your punches."
"And you were?"
"Yeah. Until the end there, I was. Until I realized you were fighting for keeps, I wasn't being too rough on you."
"Huh. Well look what that got you."
"A fat lip and a busted eye."
"See? What did I tell you about pulling your punches?"
"And what did you tell me about trusting my gut?"
"Touche."
"Quite."
"AHEM!" Peppy coughed. "If we're quite done measuring penises, Gentlemen?"
"Hey. I was watching that." Krystal said. She finished the bag of popcorn with ears folded down in depression.
Peppy just rolled his eyes. "Now. Where were we?" He ticked off a few things on his hand, and then jammed a lollipop in his mouth. Pepper was right – lollipops made things better. "Right. Andross' war. It, apparently, started with Admiral Haru. Macbeth Haru had a bone to pick with Senator Signs – dead shortly before the war, if you remember?"
"Yeah." J.W. Spoke up. "It was a hit by the Polawski Syndicate – lesser known group of criminals who weren't localized, at all." He sighed, and shook his throbbing head. "Senator Signs had signed off on an order that exiled all 'Feral Lylans' from Corneria, unless they were Stock animals. Cows, the like of that. Well, Haru's Daughter was born Feral – and shortly after they signed this bill, she was kidnapped, slaughtered, and sent back to him as goat-burgers."
"Shit." Wolf said. "So, Haru took out a hit on Signs. But where does Andross come in?"
"Andross was under a contract. Military contract. Project 'Brushfire' – a project designed to induce, and remove, Ferality. Reconstructive surgery can give a feral hands, and feet like a normal Lylan, but, if one goes feral, they still get shoved into stock just the same. And they don't get a regressive surgery, so you can always tell who's a feral-gone-Lylan, and who's a Lylan-gone-feral. So, think of this..."
Ka'Shar spoke up. "Turn a Lylan feral, dump him in enemy territory. Remotely turn him Lylan, he completes the mission from the inside, and goes back feral, safely accepted back into state folds." Ka'shar shook his head. "This man was a monster."
"Not at all, actually. That was the military application. All test subjects were irredeemable ferals. Ferals dropped off after torture and things like that. Well, he almost had a cure, when he stumbled onto something. The Spectra Effect."
"Wait..." Peppy spoke this time. "I know about that. How a steady diet of spectra flowers turned those two cat twins in the basement Lylan!"
"Exactly. There are random birth mutations, because of our volatile genetic structure. But, spectra tends to change the genetics of consumers after a while."
Krystal paled. "Wait, so, reading minds is trashing my genome?"
"Fortunately, no. It seems, that the spectra effect only works one way. Upwards. Those who go feral through mental destabilization are probably just spectra deprived. Almost every kind of plant life in the Lylat system has a 'spectra' content – Corneria having the lowest content per acre. Spectra grows in different varieties, Cornerian spectra is so weak as to be ineffective for experimentation. Fichinian Spectra, toxic to all life forms. Macbethian is dilute, but effective. Somewhere between saurian, and Cornerian. Aquan is the most powerful we know of, almost six times more powerful than Zonessian. We've heard of spectra on Saturn, but, that planet's a wasteland."
"What about Meteo?" Ka'Shar said.
"Meteo isn't a planet."
"I can't agree with you there." Ka'shar said. "It shows all the signs of being a burnt out planet that got blown up, probably by the Krazoa. And you know that Sectors X and Y have completely different chemical makeups, but by all physics, they shouldn't still be Nebula." Ka'shar shook his head. "They're all planetary debris. The evolution of a Krazoan weapon."
"Krazoa. Ha. The Spectra flower is just-"
"A genetic experiment by the Krazoa." Ka'Shar said. "Think about it. A plant, that survives all but the hottest conditions, can grow at two kelvin above Absolute Zero, and has effects when consumed like it does? Plus allows a strict Bio-mechanical interface, without an intercession AI? It has to be."
"... That's a mystery for another day. Let's move on. Andross had almost developed the cure for Ferality when Haru's daughter was killed. So Haru flew off the hinges. He ordered Andross to go to any length to discover the potential applications of the Spectra. And he did. The Similarian was the culmination of that research."
"Yes." Peppy said, looking amongst the people in the room. "And Leon has brought it back. So, now, I'm going to read you into Project Ruby."
Wolf and Krystal nodded, and looked at Ka'shar. "Look. Your choice. I run a mercenary crew. You want in, yer in, but you sever all ties with the government to be in."
"I'm in. I watched the records of Project Crimson that Haru had locked away in his office. Government can burn. I'm here to fix what's going wrong, and maybe cause a little hell."
"Alright. Read us in, Pep."
"Project Crimson was the project dedicated to the illicit and unethical development of Spectrumuis Ethralis Flora based technology. Project 'Ruby' is the follow up project, initiated to bring this illegal research to a halt, to allow full public access to Spectra Flora, and bring down the Polawski Syndicate, believed to be spear heading illicit research of the Spectra flower." Peppy sighed. "Basically, Wolf?"
"Find Leon. Kill him. Find the bastards doing this hellish shit to people. Kill them."
"And there are two other things I'm requesting of you personally. Find Fox. I want my son back. And... Wolf, Don't let this thing you're becoming be a lie."
"... I can do both." Wolf said this with a cold determination, surprising Krystal. "But it will cost... Fox... Fox is going to have to... to... " he looked over at J.W. "... Learn to live with a more crowded side of the moral compass. And as for the last bit? Ohhh, it's going to cost some criminals quite dearly."
Peppy smirked. "Alright. Get down to the armory, then head over to R&D. Turns out, I just got my 'personal stockpile' delivered – and my black-book stipend suddenly got expanded."
"Wait." Krystal spoke up. "... Does a... Doctor Patricia Maelice work here?"
"Er... Yes, actually."
"I want to kill her." Krystal said this with a bluntness that shocked wolf. "Slowly. And painfully. For what she did to my family. To my mother. To me."
"What is this?" The cockatoo said, blindfold masking her vision, and only footsteps around her. "I've done nothing wrong!"
"Really? Think back. Ocean Blue."
The smell of piss flooded the room as the woman suddenly let her beak drop open. "No..."
"Yesssss... You see... it's kind of fun. The things you did in my head. Removed certain bits. Made it hard to think for a while. But I fixed it. Want to know how?"
"No..." The word was a low wail. She felt weight on her thighs. "Please..."
"You see, the parts of my head you cut... the scars on my mind... well, they're nothing, really, compared to a really good drug. One that has the tendency to have long term regenerative effects. The Spectra. You reduced me to barely more than feral, bitch." The Blue fox had tears in her eyes, but her voice didn't break a bit. Wolf stood in the room, just watching. He needed to be here. Remind himself of what even the other side of the line he drew ages ago could be. Remind himself WHY he was a criminal gone good – and not just another piece of shit scum bag floating through the stars.
"We... oh goddess..."
"Oh no. She can't help you. Like the times you 'prayed' with us, looking at us with those hungry, lusting eyes. I want to see them." She took off the bird's blindfold. "Show me those eyes we all feared. Hated. Loathed. SHOW ME THOSE EYES, BITCH!" She said, claws breaking through the woman's beak.
"Mrg! MRRRRRRRRRR!" The muffled scream of agony penetrated down to Wolf's bones. But he wouldn't move. He would let Krystal take her pound of flesh. He saw what just the sight of the uniform did to her.
"Remind me... remind me why I lived in FEAR, Bitch!" She slowly began to pull the feathers off of her prey, blood splurtting with every pluck. "Remind me. Show me those hateful, lusting eyes. Ah! There they are. Are you jealous, now? Oh, You are, aren't you? That tick. Right there. Your body never lies."
"nrrrrhhhhhrhrhr..." The bird began crying, and Krystal ripped out a handful of feathers. "!"
"Tell me. Do you remember the seventy sixth time you put me in that cell? I do. You had just finished running a test that involved shoving a needle up my tear duct while you used a drill to bore through my skull, and remove a brain tissue sample. Thankfully, your 'medical' staff was on hand to pour medi-gel into the wound. Right here, I have a drill. I don't have a needle. They wouldn't let me have any." Krystal smiled so sweetly it shocked Wolf.
"Mrf!" the Bird screamed in agony as Krystal slowly crushed her beak.
"No no. I'm going to kill you quick. I'm not going to rape your mind, defile your soul, and THREATEN to have you raped to death for WANTING ANOTHER PIECE OF CHOCOLATE!" Krystal smirked, and picked up the power tool. "Shut up and die, you waste of meat." She said, and simply turned it on, drilling into the bird's skull.
The sound never will leave Wolf's mind. And neither will the image of Krys, standing there, holding a drill, crying as hard as she could, her face contorted like she was going to die of sorrow... But the sound that followed broke pieces of him he didn't care to admit he still had.
Krystal cried. As hard as she could, she cried. Wolf could tell, it was part sorrow. Part relief. And part abject misery. Wolf merely held her. He held her and cried with her.
Lazarus just hung his head. And he turned, looking back at the footage peppy has secretly delivered to him. "What you escaped." - All that was written on the film tin. And he hit play again, listening to the sounds of a blue, teenage fox being tortured by a mad bird with hate in her eyes, watching pieces of that girl in the other room's soul being torn apart. He vomited again, unable to cry any more.
"I shoulda been her." he muttered.
Venom
Fox looked up at the ceiling. His back hurt. It hurt like hell. He slowly eased up, groaning low, and looking around the room. "Shit..."
"Language." His father said, mimicking his son's motion, glancing about the room. The room slowly began to rouse, Slippy sitting down on the annihilated remnants of the corpse of the creature that attacked them. He was just pale, a pile of vomit resting on the floor between his legs. He'd lost all will to even move now. Amanda Frog was pressing her hand to his back, rubbing it. Katt was rubbing Falco's chest, looking down at him as he just laid there, unable to really overcome the images of that beast.
"... I've seen Falco blow up whole fleet sections... Seen slippy single-handedly save entire space stations from explosives. I've destroyed countless men over the years... but... that was..."
"The depravity of one furre does not reflect on the lot of us, Fox. Don't let Leon's twisted designs skew your vision. Keep a clear head. Trust your instincts."
"... My instinct there was to run, Dad."
"Then your instincts were right. Trusting them doesn't always mean following them." James smiled. He stood, slowly, and fetched a mop and bucket from the closet. Fox looked around. He slowly walked towards slippy, sighing.
"Slippy?"
"Hi, Fox. Sorry about using up our escape tools."
"Don't be. You saved our lives... and quite probably our dignity." Fox shook his head. "Don't be -"
"I tore this thing apart. I saw what it did to that bear. But I wasn't panicking... or even sick. I know I vomited, but, I didn't feel nauseous."
"It was just shock, Slippy."
Amanda spoke up. "He's not showing any symptoms of shock though. I mean... the reactions are there, but not the symptoms. It's weird."
"I don't even feel... anything, Fox. I felt something when I blew up a ship. When I killed those men on the station, I felt something. Here? Nothing. My only sorrow is for that poor bear."
"I get that. Just... try to forget, alright? It's the best any of us can do."
"Yeah. I'll try. Thanks... I … I think I need a shower." He stood slowly, and Amanda moved to follow him. "Er... Amanda?"
"You need company, at least for now. You're kinda shaky."
"Oh... right... well... as long as you don't look, I suppose."
Fox smiled, and walked towards Falco, Katt looking up with muted greetings.
"Falco?"
"... Leon is one sick fuck, ain't he Fox?"
"Language." The mopping James said it loud enough to make Falco wince a bit.
"I'll say. You alright, Katt? Falco's just a lazy bum, he'll be there till dad mops him up."
"Yeah, I'm fine foxy. You just go on and check on that sugar in the corner. She's got the look of a real minx tho, you be careful now, you hear?"
"I love it when you talk like that."
"You leave my drawl out of this, city slicker, and you just might get some sugar, sugar."
Fox faked a gag. Katt swatted at him, eliciting a groan from Falco, who immediately got every last inch of the feline femme fatale's attentions.
The Fennec vixen blinked seeing fox walk over, and she turned her head a bit, mostly to conceal the bruise – she'd been brought up as a tom boy, but still. That one had some lady killing eyes, she thought. He sat down beside her. "You alright?" He asked, the tone non-nonchalant, as if he weren't inquiring about her injuries, but about her state.
"What do you think?" She said, more venom than needed tinting her voice.
"I think you're probably shocked out of your mind, and taking out some of the fear on me. But, that's life. You're down here for a while. I don't think a combative attitude will get you far."
She looked at her 'councilor' of the moment, left eye swollen shut, but right showing nothing but pure malice. He just looked right back at her. "Drop the walls. Life's easier without them. It's easier to recover from injury, than never be injured. More fulfilling, too."
"I didn't come down here to get psychoanalyzed."
"I didn't expect guests, so we're even. You gonna lose the attitude?"
Fox was being a mirror, knowing that walls that get thrown too far up end up crumbling. Hell... he'd lost Krystal by living like that. And here, he saw a woman, tortured by her current predicament, in a living hell of another man's making. It took him back.
He wasn't seeing a pretty yellow Fennec fox with a chip on her shoulder trying not to let on she was mildly attracted to the handsome red fox with the white strip on his head. He was seeing a pretty blue woman, who was a little lost and in need of a hero. And he was determined to not be a hero this time. He was just going to be him. Because he didn't want to see his failures. He wanted to see a future. Even if it was just one for this little micro world they had, he wanted a future.
"Fine. I'm spooked, I'm pissed, and I'm wondering where in the FUCK we are."
"Language." James said, looking at the body as he filled up the mop bucket again, to wash away the blood.
"Relax. This... this has literally been the only thing more exciting than them throwing my dad through that door about a month ago. Anything else that happens in here... we can deal with it. We've got Slippy and Falco down here. Between the two of them, there's no situation we can't get out of."
"Fox!" James said. Fara blinked. That was Fox? And his buddies were Slippy and Falco? Realization dawned on her like a ton of bricks. And then fury towards Oxian – no, 'James McCloud' hit her even harder. He'd been her god father for all these years, and never told her that he had a son? She quaked. Fox and James began the slow arduous job of fixing the room up, and removing the body parts. But the daughter of Timothy Phoenix quaked with fury, most of it just at the world at large.