Miyu trotted after Kyra, out in the backyard of the manor. She called out to her as soon as she was able to.
"Hey Kyra! Got time to chat?" The girl turned and nodded smiling.
"Miyu hey. It's been a while. How's it going?" they started walking together, moving far out into the open field.
"Well, other than my stupidity, fine. Had a bit of a hiccup with Fox. All settled though." She smiled to Kyra, puzzled when she didn't return it. "Something bothering you?" Kyra absently nodded, clearly not really thinking of their conversation.
"Just really not liking being pulled out of school. Feel like I have nothing to do now." Miyu smirked as she watched her.
"It's not being pulled out of school that's bothering you, is it?" Miyu waited for her to respond, silence being her only answer. "It's Dust, isn't it? You two are together, and your father doesn't know." Kyra looked at her, shocked.
"How did you know that?" Miyu chuckled, patting her on the shoulder.
"Just good at reading people. Plus, why else would you be so nervous around your father and him, and constantly slipping off with him?" Kyra grimaced as she spoke.
"Alright you got me. We've been dating for almost two years. When he left school last year, he intentionally got a job near the school, and tries to take his break during lunch hours. Or he did, until dad decided that neither of us were leaving the property. I just miss being able to spend time with him, alone." Miyu nodded, the two of them sitting up against the wall.
"I can understand that. Why don't you just tell your father? He may be more supportive of it than you think." Kyra shrugged as silence fell between them. The sound of Ion engines caused Miyu to look up, seeing the Tadpole drift by overhead, gracefully landing on the landing pad. "Well, I'm sorry, but I gotta go." She stood and stretched, already moving by the time Kyra called out to her.
"Alright, talk again soon?" Miyu nodded and waved to her, just before taking off at a sprint for the landing pad. She slipped past the retaining wall, just in time to see the Tadpoles ramp lowering. She kept running, seeing Fox talking to what looked like Falco as they marched down the ramp. He reached the bottom of the ramp just as she did, staggering as she launched her arms around him.
"Hey Fox." Fox smiled and hugged her back as the bird beside them spoke, with a feminine voice.
"Well hello there random lady. I'm goin out on a limb and saying you two know each other?" Fox smirked as he responded, closing his fingers around Miyu's.
"You could say that. Miyu, this is Peregrine. Or Jasmine, as her real name is. She's signing on as a data analyst." Miyu held her free hand out for the bird to shake it. She accepted it as Miyu spoke.
"You know, I almost mistook you for Falco back there." She chuckled as Falco marched past, waving to Miyu. Funnily enough, his eyes never left the bird.
"I can't see how. For one, I'm actually good looking." She winked at Miyu before she trotted off.
"So Fox, have fun?" he smiled as they walked off the landing pad together.
"If you consider taking on large numbers of inferior fighter craft with a pair of Arwings fun, then yes." Miyu chuckled as she rested her head on his shoulder, suddenly feeling much safer with him around.
Fara trotted down the ramp of the Tadpole, following Slippy and Amanda off. She looked around puzzled. She had been expecting at least Wolf or Miyu to be waiting for her, but Miyu was walking with Fox and Wolf was nowhere to be seen. She sighed as she marched down the ramp. Katt's voice startled her and she glanced up to see her, waiting at the bottom of the ramp.
"Hey Fara, who's the new gal?" she jerked her thumb after the female bird's retreating figure.
"Oh, new ally, name's Jasmine." She nodded as they walked off the landing pad together. "So where's Wolf, or Fay for that matter?" Katt grinned as she guided her toward the main house.
"Poor Wolf has been being worked to death managing the security forces. Fay just disappeared about an hour ago, with bill." Fara scoffed as the door opened for them. Katt lead her through the house into a security room. Wolf was in one of the chairs, snoring loudly. Fara chuckled as Katt left, gently shaking him awake.
"Good afternoon, sleepy head." Wolf stirred awake and smiled.
"Hey beautiful. When did you get back?" she couldn't help but grin as she kissed his cheek.
"A few minutes ago. You look like you could use some coffee. Wolf grimaced as his eyes closed again.
"Yeah, probably." She dragged him out of the chair as he groaned in protest. "Why cant I just stay in my chair?" she grinned as she continued to drag him out of the room.
"Come on you great lazy oaf, we're getting some coffee." He groaned again as he shambled after her.
"Ya know, if I didn't like you so dang much, I would've shot you by now." She just grinned as they entered the kitchen. Wolf leaned up against the counter rubbing his organic eye. She started brewing a pot of coffee as he folded the glass plate over his cybernetic eye out of the way. The eye glowed an eerie red and the skin around it was torn and damaged from the shrapnel that had destroyed his eye. She had seen under the plate before, and wasn't disturbed by it at all anymore.
"Fake eye bothering you again?" he nodded as he rubbed the fake one too.
"Yeah. Been bothering me ever since the Aparoid threat." She sighed as the coffee finished brewing.
"You really should get it checked out. It's almost always bugging you." He folded the plate back in place as he spoke.
"Oh it's fine. Dang thing still works doesn't it?" she handed him a cup as he continued. "Anyway, get anything on Kursed?" she nodded as they both took a sip of the steaming hot liquid.
"Yeah. Found out she works for Oikonny. Fox thinks he's up to something, again." Wolf raised an eyebrow at her and she continued. "If the CDF doesn't accept this deal with Ashlyn, the new weapon systems go on the open market. Any hacker worth their salt could easily steal the designs and start building them. Fox thinks that he wants them on the open market, or at least find a way to steal them." Wolf nodded and downed the last of his coffee, staring dreamily at the still full pot.
"So, no one knows where Oikonny is. Any plans on how we stop Kursed?" Fara smiled as she took his mug and refilled it.
"Well, there is an old Venomian base on Titania. May still have access to their battle net. Going to go check it out. We're only stopping by to pick up some supplies." Wolf nodded as he accepted the fresh mug and downed it just as fast as the first. "How are you doing here?" he grimaced as he spoke.
"Just peachy. Constantly been hounded by Ashlyn's security chief, and I've had the others off so they could relax, not that Leon ever leaves that tower. Fairly sure he's set up a bunk up there. Gonna have to put everyone back on alert through, I doubt we've seen the last of Kursed. Fara nodded as they rinsed their mugs off.
"Yeah, probably not. Well, come on, you get to relax for a few hours." He groaned again as she dragged him out, only this time, with a small smile at the edges of his lips.
Fay looked up at Bill, across the booth from her and smiled. He returned it as they continued to eat their late lunch. Mr. Ashlyn's daughter had recommended the small Café in the nearby town to her, after she accidently said she wanted to spend some time with Bill. Both of them had been silent for most of the late lunch, but somehow, it didn't bother her at all. Bill suddenly set his fork down as he spoke to her.
"I never asked but, did your arm heal up well enough?" she smiled and nodded, her mouth still full of food. "How'd you get hurt, if I may ask?" she swallowed the food before speaking.
"We got ambushed by Kursed. She got lucky and punched a round through the table we were hiding behind." Bill smirked as he slid his empty plate away from them. "How'd that leg do?" he absently glanced down as he responded.
"Oh, Doc said it was the best field care he'd seen since the Lylat wars. Still have hairline fractures around my eye though. Doc didn't want me flying, but nothing short of killing me will keep me out of the sky." She tried to smile as an awkward silence fell between them. "So, when did you decide to become a pilot?" Fay's eyes drifted out the window as she spoke.
"Peppy Hare and my dad were old school friends. I had always dreamed of joining Star Fox one day because of all of the wild tales and adventures he spoke of. Dad on the other hand, didn't want me too. So I finally decided to go to nursing school, after years of bouncing between dead end jobs and pleading my dad to let me go to flight school. Then Dad was killed and Peppy asked Fara to watch over me. Said he'd met her years ago, through Fox, and well, Fara taught me how to fly, Miyu taught me how to shoot. What about you?" he grunted as he waved off her question before he responded.
"Nah, I doubt you're interested in my boring life." Fay raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh alright. After Fox's mother died, Fara's parents offered to watch Fox whenever James would get work. Fara's mother, Marsha, knew Vixy pretty my parents moved to Corneria, me and Fara ended up next door neighbors, so as you would imagine, we grew up together. If we weren't at Fara's house, we were at Fox's or mine. We would all hear stories from James about being a mercenary and it kinda just called to me and Fox. Fara, well, she was always too loyal to Corneria to really want to be a mercenary, but the flying did interest her. When James died, Peppy took over Fox's care. As soon as we were old enough, we signed up for the academy. Fara was livid with us, mainly because she knew we intended to leave and become mercenaries but, I ended up falling in love with the comradery of the military. So when Fox left to reform Star Fox, and asked me to come with, I couldn't." Fay listened intently, hanging on his every word.
"So how did you become a squadron commander?" Bill smirked as his eyes seemed to glass over.
"I was stationed here on Katina, where I was born. I was assigned to Husky Squadron. During the initial attack, my squad leader was killed, and so was Bulldog's. I don't know why, but my squad mates and the bulldogs shoved me up into command of the teams. After the war, Pepper promoted me to Commander and left the two squads under my command." Fay's smile faded as she watched him stare emptily into his water glass.
"And they were with you when you were captured." He nodded, confirming her statement. "Look, I'm sorry Bill." He shrugged as he responded.
"Don't worry about it, you didn't pull the trigger. Two of my pilots managed to bail, and a third crash landed without too much trouble. Actually part of my new unit. My wing man survived too, just, well, badly injured." Fay gently squeezed his hand as she spoke.
"Hey, not everyone died. Take what comfort is there." He smiled as the door opened behind him. Her hand shot back to her side of the booth as Fara and Wolf strode in, laughing with each other. Fara saw them and waved to them.
"Hey guys, mind if we join you?" Fay shriveled up a little as she responded.
"Not really, I wasn't aware you guys were back yet." Fara shrugged as she dropped into the seat beside Fay, Wolf dropping beside Bill and looking around nervously.
"Oh Wolf, cut it out, you look around all nervous like that and people will notice you. Anyway, what's good here?" Fay shrugged as Bill responded.
"Everything. What brings yall back so soon?" Fara smirked as she browsed through the menu.
"Supplies mostly. We got a good lead so. And Falco has a crush now." Fay felt blood rush to her cheeks at the word 'crush'.
"Really? How the hell…?" Fara cut him off, dropping the menu onto the table.
"Oh some new data analyst we picked up. She's an Avian, just like him." Bill chuckled, glancing at Fay and realizing how uncomfortable she was. He stayed silent, a small smile spreading across his face as he watched Fay.
"Well, you're being quiet today Fay?" Fay startled slightly as Wolf spoke.
"Oh, I, um, just haven't known Falco long enough for me to understand what's so funny about it." Fara chuckled and patted her shoulder.
"Oh you will soon enough." Fay attempted to smile as Bill spoke to her.
"So you knew Peppy really well, ever meet Fox before any of this?" she shook her head before she responded.
"No, not really. And after Fox reformed the Star Fox team, we almost never saw him." Bill nodded as Fara chuckled slightly.
"Going over personal history now?" Bill shrugged as he responded for her.
"Getting to know your team mates improves unit cohesion. It's a good thing to do, no matter what team you end up with." Fara raised an eyebrow at him and shrugged.
"Huh, I'd forgotten how into this military thing you got. Not the same ol' Bill you used to be." He grunted as he responded.
"Nah, he's in there. Just don't come out much." Fara grinned, almost manically.
"Well, I feel sorry for your team mates, and hope you've changed your night time wardrobe, for their sake." Bill was laughing hysterically as the waiter came back around, Wolf catching her attention.