Hello Star Fox fans! Here comes the home stretch of the story, and we've come so far. Wars come and go, but our soldiers always remain eternal. The Star Fox team is close to completing their ultimate objective, and it would seem that Axios is about to confront his demon. Thanks again for reading my story! Leave a review if you would like, and as always; enjoy the chapter!

28. Demons

~The team had split up just as they planned. Falco, Katt, Amanda, and Slippy were to look for the fortress's shield generator to shut it down while Fox, Krystal and Axios were going to look for the bridge. With Axios's memories slowly returning to him, he guided the two teams through the base. However, security was swarming their movements, and One was still lurking about the base.

Amidst the turmoil, Fox, Krystal, and Axios found themselves pinned down within a hall way a short distance from the stations bridge. Fox was standing on the opposite end of the hall from Axios and Krystal while he was firing down at the insurrectionists in his path. "Axios!" Fox said as he reloaded his rifle. "Are you sure it's down this hall?"

"I'm sure of it!" Axios responded as he fired his blaster. "The bridge is down this hall and to the right!"

"We need to get past these guys!"

"I got an idea!" Krystal said as she tightly gripper her staff.

"Same plan?" Fox asked.

"Yes, let's do it!"

Fox got behind cover and Krystal extended her staff. Axios was confused at first as he saw Fox and Krystal temporarily retreat behind cover. However, he quickly remembered Krystal's move on Katina and braced himself. "Here we go again." He thought.

The staff's energy slowly started to radiate, and soon the staff was glowing. Axios saw a glowing orb hover at the bottom of Krystal's staff as she gripped it tightly. "Axios!" Krystal called out. "Brace yourself!"

Axios quickly dropped to the floor and placed a hand on the ground to steady himself. Krystal leaped into the air and slammed the staff onto the ground using the earthquake ability. The resulting shockwave staggered all the insurrectionists within the hall and Fox and Axios took that opportunity to open fire. One by one the insurrectionists fell to the rounds of Axios's blaster and Fox's rifle. After a brief moment, the last insurrectionist had fallen, and the trio exited their cover. "Clear." Fox said.

"What the hell was that?" Axios asked. "You still haven't told me how your staff could do that."

"My staff is a great gift." Krystal responded. "This earthquake ability is one of many different powers my staff contains. Another example was the shield I used to protect us from the explosion of the grenade."

A flashback of Katina quickly returned to Axios. He remembered seeing Krystal do the same when the bomb inside the outpost blew up. "So, that's how you saved us on Katina." Axios said.

"God bless that staff." Fox softly said as he reloaded his rifle.

Krystal smiled and sheathed the staff behind her back. She drew her blaster from her holster and the trio continued to move through the halls. After a brief minute, the trio came up on a large set of double doors. Axios studied the doors for a brief moment and his memories started to return to him. "This is the first door to the bridge." Axios said. "Its two feet thick with reinforced depleted uranium layers every four inches. There is a hall way in between this door and the final bridge door, and then we're good to go."

"So how do we get through it?" Krystal asked.

"We'll have place a charge on the door locks to blow them out individually." Fox said. "Slippy, can-"

Fox was silenced as he saw the massive double doors slowly start to crack open. He looked to the side and noticed that Axios had his hand on a hand print scanner and he was looking into a retinal scanner. Fox also noticed a green light just over Axios's head as Axios back away from the console. "Apparently," Axios cheerfully said, "They never removed me from their systems."

Fox was frozen as Krystal started to giggle to herself. "Fox?" Slippy asked over the communicator. "Did you need something?"

"Never mind Slip." Fox responded.

The trio stood in front of the doors as they finally opened their way to the bridge hall way. However, they were frozen at the sight of a black hooded figure standing in the middle of the hall way staring at them. They saw one of the figure's eyes start to glow and they saw a katana blade emerging from the sleeve of its robe. After studying the figure briefly, the trio realized it was One. "You took your time…" One said.

Fox and Krystal did not waste any time. Fox aimed and fired his rifle and Krystal fired her blaster. However, One held out his hand and a red shield emerged from his mechanical arm that deflected all of Fox and Krystal's' rounds. "How did he…?" Fox asked.

"It's because he is half synthetic and half organic." Axios said. "He was injured during one of his mission back in the day and he required cybernetics to keep him alive. It looks like his cybernetics also had a few modifications."

"You remember…" One said.

Axios stepped in front of Fox and Krystal to face One and One dropped his blade and removed his robes to reveal the top half of his cybernetic features. Fox and Krystal were shocked to see One's true form, and they were puzzled on how to handle him. One picked up his blade and split it into two separate blades. The trio also noticed that the edges of the blades were coated with a green coating. "I've been waiting for a time like this." One said as he tightened his grip. "Acid edged blades, my personal favorite."

"Fox, Krystal," Axios said, "I'll handle this."

"Axios, don't be a fool." Fox said. "We need you to-"

"There's another way into the bridge, Fox. Take the hall way to your right and then make the first left. That hall way will lead you to a side entrance into the bridge."

"Axios, you can't possibly take him on your own." Krystal said.

"I've done it before. I can do it again."

Axios pulled out his knife reloaded his pistol. He placed a fresh clip into his pistol and stepped towards One. "I won't say this again…" Axios said. "Go now. I'll be fine."

"Be careful Axios." Krystal said.

Axios looked over his shoulder to see Fox and Krystal proceed down the hall. As soon as he saw them make the left towards he next bridge entrance, he focused his gaze back onto One. "You seem very eager to die." One said.

"Corvo," Axios said, "I know you're in there. Just give me a sign all right? We can get through this."

"Corvo is dead, and you will join him soon."

"We'll see."

Axios and One sprinted towards each other baring their blades within their hands. As they came within reach, One swung for Axios's head. Axios slid on his knees under the blade and attempted to stab his knife into one of One's legs. One quickly retracted his leg and swung his second blade straight down on Axios. Axios dove out of harm's way and quickly aimed his blaster at One. He fired three rounds only to see them deflected away by One's blades.

Axios quickly stood from the ground as One was charging him. One lunged out towards Axios with one blade while swinging for Axios's chest with the other. Axios quickly ducked under the first blade but was caught off guard by the second. He used his knife to block the second blade but the force of One's swing knocked Axios off his feet and onto the ground. "Damn…" Axios thought as he was pushing himself off the ground.

Axios looked up and noticed One was coming down from above to slash at him again. "Die!" One exclaimed.

Axios rolled to the side and aimed his blaster; however One swung his second blade and sliced the blaster in half. "No more guns!" One said in an angry fit. "Fight me now!"

Axios took a step backwards and saw that half of his blaster was missing. He saw One charging him again so he threw what was left of the blaster back at One. One sliced what was left of the blaster out of his way but distracted himself by doing so. Axios seized that moment to tackle One and he forced one of the blades out of One's hand. Axios took the blade and kicked One in the head to space himself form One. The two quickly stood and locked stares again, both of them holding one of the katana blades. "Let's make this a little more fair." Axios said as he gripped his blade.

"Makes no difference to me!" One angrily responded.

While the brothers continued their duel within the bridge hall way, and Fox and Krystal were making their way towards the bridge; Falco's team was nearing the shield generator on the other side of the base. His group was pinned down in a hall way surrounded by insurrectionists from their front and their back. Falco and Katt were taking cover inside a room adjacent to their hall way while Slippy and Amanda were taking cover in a room opposite from them. "Slippy!" Falco said as he was firing his blaster. "How much further?!"

"It should only be another fifty meters down these hall ways!" Slippy responded as he looked at his PDA.

"We won't make it past twenty meters if this keeps up!" Katt said as she reloaded.

"We won't even make it out of these rooms!" Amanda said.

Falco poked his head out of his cover to try to gauge how many insurrectionists were blocking their routes. He noticed that there were five insurrectionists in front of them and that there were four behind them. Falco reached behind his back for a clip to reload his blaster but he felt something else instead. He pulled his hand forward and realized that he had a grenade. "Oh yea…" Falco thought. "I forgot about this."

Katt took a moment to look at what Falco was holding. "Um… Falco?" Katt nervously asked.

Falco lifted his thumb to pop a cap off the top of the grenade. He pushed a button that was underneath the cap and tossed it at the insurrectionists in front of the group. "Fire in the hole!" Falco called out.

The four of them retreated back into their cover and after a few seconds, the grenade went off. The resulting explosion killed the group of insurrectionists in front of them relieving the pressure off themselves. The four of them then turned their fire backwards, and after a brief minute, they managed to kill the insurrectionists behind them. "Clear!" Falco called out.

"Clear!" Slippy also called out.

"All clear!" Amanda confirmed.

"Thank god." Katt said in relief.

"Let's get moving guys, we don't have too long." Falco said.

The team moved down the hall way towards the coordinates that Axios forwarded to them; after a few minutes of moving through the halls and picking off stray insurrectionists, they arrived at the shield generator doors. "This is it." Slippy said as he looked at the doors.

"Then let's finish this." Falco said.

The team reloaded their weapons and Slippy walked over to a nearby console. "Looks like it's a hand print and retina scanner." Slippy said.

"Can you get through it?" Amanda asked.

"I can get through anything. Just give me a sec"

"You'll have to work fast!" Katt said as she noticed more guards approaching.

The team turned and noticed another group of insurrectionists coming towards them. "Slippy work on the door!" Falco said as he readied himself. "We'll hold them off!"

Falco, Katt, and Amanda all took cover behind some nearby crates that they had found. As soon as the insurrectionists were within firing range, the trio opened fire. The insurrectionists were being kept out of the generator hall way with the combined fire from Falco, Amanda, and Katt. "How much longer Slippy?!" Falco asked.

"Just another minute and I'll be good!" Slippy responded.

Falco, Katt, and Amanda continued to fire upon the insurrectionists keeping them away from the entrance to the hall way. However, one of them managed to get a shot off that went towards Slippy. The round impacted the wall roughly a few inches away from the console. Slippy instantly ducked and turned to fire at the insurrectionists. "That was too close guys!" Slippy said.

"We're trying here ok?" Katt angrily responded.

"How much longer?" Amanda asked. "They just keep coming!"

"They really don't want us in that room." Falco said as he shot an insurrectionist.

Slippy focused his attention back on the console. After a brief minute, Slippy was successful in hacking through the scanners, and he opened the doors. "I did it!" Slippy joyfully said.

"Inside!" Falco said. "Now! Move!"

The four of them ran into the shield generator room and quickly killed of the few unprepared guards inside. Slippy ran to a console of the inside of the room and he closed the doors. Afterwards, Slippy punched in a few buttons on the door controls and he was successful in locking the door. "That was too close." Katt said as she reloaded.

"Hey guys," Falco said as he froze at a sight, "get a load of this."

The team walked over to Falco's position and they were now looking at what he was looking at. They were gazing upon a large blue sphere being held within a larger rotating metallic sphere. There was also a series of rods rotating around the sphere and spokes were extruding from the rods towards the sphere. "That must be the shield generator." Amanda observed. "Very impressive really."

"Wow," Slippy said, "I give these guys props for their engineering. Cornerian tech is at least three years behind these guys."

"How long did this all take to build?" Katt asked.

"Doesn't matter to me." Falco said. "We need to blow this thing and call in the bomb."

"Ok bird brain, how do you propose we do that?"

Falco leaned back and scratched the back of his head. "I'm open to ideas." he said.

"Let's look around." Slippy said as he walked into the center of the room. "We might be able to find something to shut down the shields."

The four of them split up and searched the many terminals around the shield generator. They looked about the many terminals within the room but they found nothing about shutting down the shield. "For all of these terminals and their infinite wisdom…" Falco said. "It seems like this shield was never meant to be shut down in the first place."

"You can't make a shield that'll never power down." Katt responded. "Any shield can be taken down."

After a brief moment of searching, Slippy found a terminal that had power schematics for the shield. "Hey guys!" Slippy said. "I think I got something!" The team approached Slippy at his terminal. "It shows that those four spokes up there rotating around the sphere are what manage the shield's power output."

"Meaning…?" Falco asked.

"Meaning that if we destroy the spokes then the shield will overload. That blue sphere inside all of that is concentrated blue arc energy that has been rotated many times over to form a sphere. The shield is comprised as the same arc energy our hyper drives use to put our ships into hyperspace jumps."

"Then how did the Black Suns make a shield out of all this?" Katt asked.

"During hyperspace, blue arc energy is required in our engines to start the jum[. When in the middle of hyperspace, that blue energy does work on the ship to keep it going. It gives of its energy to propel the ship. The Black Suns must have found a way to contain it into one sphere like they did here. That sphere is giving off its own energy to the rest of the ship, and the spokes rotating around the sphere continue to recycle more and more energy to keep their shield up."

"All right," Falco said, "then let's take out those spokes." Falco pulled out his blaster and fired off several rounds at the spokes. However, none of this blaster rounds came remotely close to the spokes as they were deflected away from another shield surrounding the entire generator. "Dammit." he said. "So there's a shield protecting the shield generator."

"There's another shield Slippy." Amanda said. "How do we get rid of it?"

Slippy focused his attention back to his terminal and started looking through some of the files. He found the secondary shield schematics, and noticed something strange. "I found something…" Slippy said. "But this doesn't make any sense."

"What is it?" Katt asked.

"It says that the second shield is powered by a source within this room, but that source has been moving this whole time."

"Moving power source?" Falco asked. "So where is it now?"

Slippy looked up and so did the rest of the team. Above them, hidden in the ceiling, was a glowing red light. They looked more closely and noticed that the light had started to move. Falco aimed his blaster upwards and fired a round at the light. However, the light moved away to dodge the bullet, and they saw a black figure disappear into the ceiling. "I think we're in trouble…" Falco nervously said.

They saw the glowing light again behind a set of terminals on the opposite end of the room from them. The four of them aimed their blaster at the light and waited for the figure to reveal itself. However, it jumped behind the terminals and then jumped onto one of the walls. It then jumped upwards into the ceiling once more and disappeared. "What is that thing?" Katt asked.

"I'm not sure," Slippy responded, "but that thing is the source of our second shield."

They kept their back towards each other as they scanned the room for the figure to appear again. To their dismay, the figure was waiting right above them within the ceiling. After a brief moment, the figure hopped down from the ceiling and landed in-between the four of them. They all fell forward and they turned and saw the figure.

The figure was a tall, black robot with six limbs. The robot had one glowing red eye in the center of its head, and each of the robotic limbs had three sharp metallic claws on the end. There were small spikes extruding from its back, and the figure resembled the design of the sand leapers from Titania.

On the other side of the base, within a darkly lit red cell, Black was sitting there with his eyes closed. Though he could not see through his own eyes, he was looking through the eyes of the robot that was attacking Falco, Katt, Slippy, and Amanda. "More of them…" Black thought. "Better hurry…"

Black took a deep breath and then he exhaled. The tubes that were connected to his back were also connected to a control device. He was able to control most of the defenses of the base with his thoughts. At the moment, he was controlling the robotic beast with his mind, and he could only think about eliminating Falco and his team. "Move guys!" Falco said.

The four of them quickly got up and they fired at the robotic beast. They saw it leap from the ground straight back into the ceiling and it disappeared. "Where is it?" Katt hastily asked.

"Stay close!" Slippy said. "And watch your backs!"

The team scanned the room carefully and the found no sign of the robotic creature. After a brief moment, it jumped from the shadows straight towards Katt. Katt quickly ducked down underneath the robot and fired several rounds at it. "There! There!" She called out. "Shoot it!"

The four of them opened fire upon the creature and a few blaster rounds impacted it. The creature climbed onto a wall and disappeared into the shadows again. "Come on!" Falco said. "Don't tell me machines are complete cowards too!"

Overhearing Falco's words, Black grinned. "You'll see…" Black thought.

The creature locked its gaze onto Falco's back. It slowly lowered itself to the ground level and slowly approached Falco from behind. Slippy looked over his shoulder and saw it stalking Falco. "Falco!" Slippy called out. "Behind you!"

Falco quickly turned but the robot had already lunged out at him. The robot stabbed its claws into Falco's shoulders and it dragged him across the floor towards the corner. Falco let out a cry of pain as he felt the claws digging towards his bones. Katt froze at the sight for a moment and then sprinted towards the robot out of complete anger and shock. Slippy and Amanda quickly followed at the sight as well. "Falco!" Slippy called out.

"You monster!" Amanda cried.

"NO!" Katt cried as she fired at the robot.

The robot clung onto Falco as tight as it possibly could. Falco let out another cry of pain as the robot tried to carry him up a wall and into the ceiling. However, despite the pain, Falco gripped his blaster tightly and aimed at the robot. He fired off several rounds into the robot's belly and after hitting a vital spot, the robot dropped him.

Falco landed feet first on the ground but instantly fell over as he couldn't move his arms. The sight of his condition put Katt into tears, and she quickly rushed to his aid. Slippy and Amanda were right next to her keeping an eye out for the robot to appear again. "Falco!" Katt cried. "Falco! Please! Oh god…"

Katt kneeled next to Falco gently holding his neck up and looking at his injuries. "E-easy there pussy cat…" Falco lightly said. "This is just a scratch…"

Katt couldn't bear to see Falco in the condition he was in. "We need to get him out of here!" Katt fearfully said.

"No you need to destroy that damn shield…" Falco said in his struggle. "Kill that robot, and just leave me here in the corner. I can still fire a gun."

"We'll stick close to Falco and draw that thing out of hiding." Slippy said as he reloaded his blaster.

"I'll stay here with him." Katt said.

"That's fine." Amanda said.

Slippy and Amanda were both slowly moving out into the center of the room while Katt and Falco remained in the corner. Slippy and Amanda were pointing their blasters everywhere looking out for the robot. Unaware that the robot was actually stalking them from the opposite corner, Slippy slowly turned his back to the robot. "Die…" Black thought.

The robot lunged out from the corner but Slippy quickly noticed it and ducked underneath it. He noticed an entry wound from where Falco had shot it as it dove over him. Slippy quickly got up and sprinted towards the robot. He leaped out at it and managed to land on its back while trying to avoid the spikes on its back. The robot tried to shake Slippy off its back but Slippy clamped onto the metal monster as tight as he could. "Amanda!" Slippy said. "Shoot the belly!"

Amanda aimed at the robot and noticed the same wound that Falco made. She fired off several rounds and noticed that the robot was falling backwards. However, Amanda ran out of bullets, and the robot charged Amanda as she was trying to reload. However, before the robot could swipe at her neck, several blaster rounds came from over her shoulders impacting the robot in the belly.

She turned to notice that Falco and Katt were both firing from the corner. With Slippy still trying to hold the robot in place, the team ultimately exposed a red, soft, and muscular like weak spot in the belly after shooting off the armor that protected it.

Slippy was eventually shaken off the robot and was thrown into a corner. The robot quickly covered its belly as it tried to escape the team. However, Katt sprinted at the robot and tackled it as it tried to climb up a wall. As the two of them fell on the floor, Katt pulled out a knife and started to stab the exposed belly of the robot. She stabbed it repeatedly and Slippy and Amanda joined in shooting it.

After a brief moment, the red belly was bleeding out red fluids, and the robot had been eliminated. Black felt a minor migraine within his head and his anger took hold of his emotions. "Damn you…" Black angrily said. "They've destroyed the Prowler."

Seeing that the red light from the Prowler's head had turned off, Falco took that opportunity to aim at the shield generator and he started firing at the spokes. One by one the spokes fell out of place and the blue sphere was exposed for the rest of the team. "Open fire…" Falco said.

Following his order, the team fired at the sphere. After a few moments, the room started to vibrate as the sphere started to expand. The team quickly took cover behind terminals and desks in the room. After a brief moment, the sphere dispersed and a shock wave knocked all the terminals over and turned the desks. The team stood to look at the empty shield generator, and Katt helped Falco on to his feet. "Fox." Falco said.

"Falco!" Fox responded over the communicator. "What's your status?"

"The shield is down. We destroyed the generator."

"Great job Falco!"

"Now we can call in the bomb right?"

"Not yet. Listen, we've got a problem." Fox and Krystal were in the bridge of the base and they had just cleared it out. However, they opened the main door to the bridge hall way and they found that Axios and One were not in the hall way. Fox took a moment to explain the situation to Falco. Falco in turn explained his condition to Fox. "All right." Fox said. "I want you to head back to your ship and get out of here. You did your part, now we can do ours."

"Yea but where the hell is Axios?!" Falco asked.

Within the center of the base, a duel of fates had reached its end. Axios was thrown into a large circular room and was badly beaten. He had bruises by his face and he had several cuts throughout his body. One walked up next to him to present him to Black. However, One also had cuts throughout his body, and his mechanical limbs were leaking fluids. One slowly dropped to his knees and used one of his arms to support him. "M-master…" One said. "Here is Two…"

Looking down upon them both, Black was sitting in his chair in his darkly lit cell. He looked down at Axios and Axios looked up to him. "It's good to see you again, Two…" Black said.