Star Fox: Return
Chapter Fourteen: Thomas, the Criminal Master of Disguise
Abandoned Jail
Urano City, Katina
11:30 am Katina Time
Fox landed his Arwing and looked over at his father, who was standing by the wreakage of his ship. Star Wolf had not been forgiving, and had ripped the ship apart trying to kill Thomas Derkan. The imposter had crashed just outside the abandoned jail and had escaped to the building. Kevin, Krystal, and Star Wolf had landed nearby, climbing out of their ships. Fox approached his father, "Sorry about your ship."
James McCloud turned with a smile on his face, "Thomas doesn't know the true capabilities of my Venom Slayer. My ship allowed itself to be shot down. It will recover."
"Is your ship an Aparoid or something?" Kevin joked.
"No," the older fox said a little too quickly.
"Fox," Krystal said, worry in her voice, "I can't sense anything here. It's like there's a blanket covering my abilities."
"That's one of Tom's more nefarious inventions," James explained. "You're picking up the effects of a Thought Noise Interference Generator; a TNIG. It emits sound at such a high frequency, that it can't be heard and messes with telepath abilities. It could even cause people without telepath abilities to slowly go unconscious."
"Then we had best hurry," Wolf said. "There are three entrances. I'll take my team through one."
Picking up on Wolf's plan, James said, "Krystal, Fox, you take another. Kevin, you're with me. If anyone starts to feel light headed, get out before your brain starts to shut down."
11:45 am Katina Time
James and Kevin
Kevin stepped into the room carefully, blaster at the ready. James stepped in behind him, sweeping his head from side to side through his dark shades. "How can you see in here with those?" Kevin asked.
"The lenses are actually sensor cameras," James answered. "They supply me with various types of information, and have automatic vision-shift." Kevin nodded, understanding. Most starships had automatic vision-shift cockpits to deflect bright flashes of light and to allow pilots to fly in darkness. James tapped the side of his specks and frowned, "I'm picking up an infrared reading in the left corner."
Raising his blaster, Kevin fired at the seemingly empty corner. The blast impacted against something before it reached the wall, "Cloaking device."
"One second," James said, lying down and aiming carefully. He fired one shot, and the device exploded. Several long spikes were now visible on the wall, as well as a door. "A few more steps and we'd be marshmallows on sticks," James remarked hollowly. Something was still not right. The spikes just weren't Thomas Derkan's style.
"Let's check the next room," Kevin said stepping forward.
"Wait!" James said.
Unfortunately, it was too late, and Kevin fell through the trapdoor. James lunged forward, but the trapdoor closed and sealed, having fulfilled it's task.
Kevin slid down the slide until he reached a dark room with a single occupant. "Fara?" he gasped.
She turned towards him and smiled, "Welcome home. How was work?"
Blinking in confusion, he replied, "Fine."
Fara stood and turned toward him, beckoning him forward. In spite of the fact that his instincts were screaming that this was a trap, he stepped towards her.
The energy cords of a Binder suddenly wrapped around him, causing him to drop his blaster as he was roughly hoisted into the air. Fara smiled and picked up the blaster he dropped, pointing it at him.
"Fara? What?" he yelled.
"Who says I'm Fara?" she answered, this time in a deeper voice. Some sort of holographic costume faded, revealing a white wolf with red eyes dressed in a Venomise military uniform. The albino wolf smiled, revealing yellowed fangs before he shot Kevin in the forehead, "One down, six to go." He then turned and pressed a button on his wrist device. There was the sound of an explosion as the ground shook, and the wolf growled in pleasure.
"Four down, three to do."
Exploded Jail Section
11:50 am Katina Time
Panther moved the last piece of rubble and grasped Wolf's paw, hoisting him out. Wolf, like Panther, had several scrapes and bruises, but also had a few broken ribs. Unfortunately, Panther had to move him, and he did so just in time, as more rubble shifted. Had he left Wolf, his captain would have been crushed.
Opening his first aid kit and began doing what he could when Wolf opened his eye, "Leon?"
"Dead," Panther replied, pointing to a crater splattered with blood. "The explosion caused the detonation of the explosives he was carrying."
Wolf shook his head, wincing in pain as he did so, "Poor guy; annoying, but loyal to the end. I just wish he listened to me when I told him to not bring so many grenades and who knows what else. The others?"
Panther shook his head, "Unknown. It appears that the explosion was only in our area, intended for us."
"And we're supposed to be watching Krystal and Fox while they were on vacation," Wolf growled in frustration. "I have to admit, Thomas Derkan is good. He ambushes us when we head to the new hotel that Fox and Krystal were going to, puts bomb collars on us, forces us to work for him, and then tries to blow us up."
"That's about the size of it," Panther remarked. "Looks like we won't be able to play a joke on Fox for a long time." Panther had lied to Fox and told him their job was done, but in reality, they were going to try to make sure that the next hotel they went to had Fox and Krystal in the same room again, only with one bed this time.
"Panther, you read too many romance novels," Wolf said. "See if you can contact the others."
In response, Panther raised his arm to show that the rubble had crushed his communicator. "Panther will stabilize your condition, and then go to his ship to call for help."
Wolf nodded and thought to himself, Thomas is more capable than even I thought. I hope you last against him Fox, or no one will be able to stop whatever it is that he has planned.
Sky Claw
Orbit over Fortuna
12:30 Cornerian Military/Ship Time
"Common, Bessie! What'cha got, eh!" he yelled.
The cow roared and charged again. Once again, he dodged, only to see the cow run up the side of the wall and jump, landing on top of him.
Dash looked through the cockpit of his ship over into Falco's. The blue feathered – minus some on his head – falcon was still twitching in his sleep. Dash sighed, his head still throbbing from using his powers to bring them to the other side of the planet. "Hurry and wake up, Falco. We don't have much time if we are going to save Mr. McCloud from a horrible fate."