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SyxxFox
Rogue Fox Armageddon Soul
Chapter XXIX
Catch Me if You Can
"Hit the lights just to see the horizon,
I'm a fool couldn't see this one coming,
Gonna' run away,
Gonna' run away,
Gotta' get away,
Gotta' get away, right now,
Follow the leader,
She wants it all,
The higher you fly,
Just means the faster you fall,
Follow the leader,
She'll take it all,
The harder you try,
Just means the harder you fall,"
CRASH ANTHEM – "Follow the Leader"
Syxx refined the speakers within his Vortec. He activated the heat vision on the HUD, so he could keep an eye on Kyla as they crept through the ship. The past few days had been hard on him, and they only got worse as he found out, that his interrogator, the whole time, had been none other then Krystal. The red vixen in front of him moved swift and silent. She had placed together the sniper rifle of the Mapaw. With the extended barrel and stock, the weapon turned out to be longer then she was tall. It was cumbersome, but she was very skilled with it, even in close quarters engagements.
Syxx growled through the speakers of the Vortec. "You shouldn't have come."
"Well, your absence was misleading. We thought you were dead. I was sent to come check it out and assemble the pieces of the Vortec and find the location of the Hook Echo using you're Heads Up. I never thought that you would be alive as well."
"I wish I wasn't."
"Stay focused Syxx."
Syxx trailed closely behind Kyla. They reached an intersection of halls. Both of them hugged the wall, tightly. A single man passed by them. Kyla lifted the rifle pointing it toward the hound, but didn't pull in the trigger. The man took a turn at the corner. Syxx rolled the knife out of his sheath, stretching his paw around the hilt, happy to have the grasp of the weapon again. She lowered the rifle, sticking out the barrel at shin level; the man tripped and stumbled to the floor, right in front of Syxx.
The black fox wasted no time, and reefed the knife downward, putting a clean and silent end to the man's life. Kyla didn't watch. She was more concerned about keeping an eye out in front of them. She knew that Syxx will have taken care of the hound that she had tripped.
"Move." Syxx whispered.
She got up from her crouched position, and rolled her body around the corner. She pointed the muzzle of the weapon down the hallway. Syxx followed, now holding the Mapaw pistol form. Both of them knew not to fire while their cloaking was engaged, making their last encounter nearly flawless.
"Where's your Hook Echo?" Syxx asked.
"I was going to ask the same about yours. I parked mine in the hanger."
"In the hanger!?"
"Yeah, it looked pretty empty to me. This ship is a beater. I'd be surprised it even had radar. Not that it matters in the F1 though."
"It's cloaked right?"
"I'm that not stupid."
Syxx smiled. "Just checking."
"So who was that?"
"No one."
"Like I said; I'm not that stupid. You know her."
"Keep moving. The hanger is just up around the corner."
"Hmm… you and I will have a talk about this later."
"We're not home yet."
The fox pair made their way to the large and empty hanger of the ship. With the help of the thermo vision, Syxx could see the cool outline of the Hook Echo against the background of the hanger. They made their way to it. Kyla jumped onto the invisible ship. Syxx crouched at the base of the fighter and guarded Kyla and the vessel. In another moment the cloak deactivated. Syxx and Kyla both deactivated theirs as well. They started to move faster, coordinating their escape.
Kyla hopped into the cock pit. "Come on."
"I don't think so."
"What? Don't like sitting so close to a girl?" she giggled. "It's big enough for two."
"You think your real funny." Syxx jumped onto the wing, reaching over her. He grabbed a heavy forward stock that attached it to the barrel, and added in a heavy butt. The Mapaw formed into a heavy machinegun. The fox crouched onto the wing of the ship. He ensured his helmet was on properly, and the Vortec was ready to go. Without the power of this armor, this Mapaw form would be a chore to carry never mind shoot.
He nodded. "Ready?"
Kyla turned her shoulder over to him. She cocked her head. "Are you crazy!?"
"Almost. Now fly."
Kyla closed the cockpit, the engines screamed to life, and the Hook Echo began to hover. "Are you sure about this?"
"Settle down. I have training."
"I don't seem to recall doing this in Slayer."
"That's 'cause we didn't. Just… do your best, and try to keep it steady alright? If anything comes our way, I'll blast it. Just try not to get shot down if you could manage."
The Hook Echo hovered around the in hanger. The engines whined as they warmed up. Syxx put the large machinegun up into his shoulder. The door that they had come through moments before opened. The one thing that he could have hoped for, was whoever was coming through the door, wouldn't be Krystal. Before anyone could even file out, he unleashed a hell fire of steel-plasma rounds toward the open door. The shots tore through the doorway and chipped off chunks of the metal wall. The machinegun cracked into Syxx's shoulder, as the weapon sliced away. Syxx watched the meter on the HUD rise slowly as the weapon heated up. The large cooling rods on this modification kept the weapon from overheating, but it was consequently, very heavy.
Kyla pressed the thrusters forward. "Hang on Syxx."
In another moment the X-Military personal in the ship began to fire back. Plasma scorched across the wings of the Hook Echo. Syxx tried to lower his stance, hiding behind the wing. He lifted the huge machinegun with one paw as if it were no lighter then a pistol. He held onto a wing flare with the other paw, narrowly dodging the plasma fire while returning twice what was coming toward him with a single paw only.
"You holding on? Or What?!
Syxx was more then happy to fire back, holding the heavy weapon in one paw. He pulled in the trigger. Fire went away and toward him. "Uh… Yeah! I got it!"
The Hook Echo moved toward the open door, and blasted out into space. The boots of the Vortec helped keep him firmly in place on the Hook Echo. "Syxx, where are you parked?"
The vulpine scrolled through his HUD. "The orbit has thrown my ship off. It's nearly on the other side of the planet."
"Well hang on. We've got multiple enemy contacts coming in. Think you can take them?"
"Think you can fly straight?"
"I think someone needs a nap when we get back home."
"Cram it." Syxx rolled his eyes.
Syxx took a deep breath. This was the first moment he had actually gained time to think about what had just happened. Perhaps fate had brought them together for a second time, or maybe it was just coincidence. The chances of him meeting her again were one in billions. Space was big, and there were a lot of planets. He didn't care what it was, all that was important now, was that he put some distance between him and her. She was wanted in the Lylat System for his death which could keep her away… unless she could prove he wasn't dead. That would be a bad road to go down. But then there was Slayer. Even if they did find out Fox was alive, that would leave Slayer wide open to the public. They wouldn't do that. He figured he would most likely be protected.
If… or when she followed... which Syxx knew she would, it could lead to one deadly game of follow the leader. He knew that he himself had in fact betrayed her.
He growled at how foolish he had been, he should have seen something like this coming. As much as he hated to do so, he had to run away, he had to get away. She wants it all. If she wants it that badly, then she'll take it all and leave him with nothing, once again.
X
Kursed began to shiver. Her head stung. The cool floor made her spine uncomfortably cramped. Her heavy eyes fluttered open. She didn't understand. She stumbled to her feet, and collapsed on her bed shortly after. She breathed heavily, with her eyes closed. In another moment she opened them. Right in front of her eyes was a picture. One of her and Fox. One that had been taken so many years ago. But, it wasn't as she remembered. The picture was crumpled into a ball. She delicately unfolded it, and stared into the photo.
The memories all started to come back. She remembered the black fox on her wall. The silence of him, and the way she tortured him. She swallowed hard. She knew what she saw. She jumped up from the bed, first noticing the clean cut up the arm of her jacket. She knew for sure now. She knew what she saw. She saw him. He was still alive.
Kursed bolted out the doorway, toward her ship. She was going to hunt him down, if it cost her, her own life. Maybe he hadn't made it far yet. Maybe she still had a chance.
X
"Are we getting close?"
"If you don't want to fly me there, then I'd be just as happy to do some space jumping. I didn't ask you to come and help me in the first place."
"Settle down. Don't get so worked up. Hmm… we've got one more enemy craft coming in. How did it find us? Regardless. It's at about eight o'clock. Go for it Syxx."
Syxx turned around on the wing putting his back against the fuselage of the ship. He pointed the machinegun into space. "How far out?"
"You should see it with in a few seconds."
Syxx used the zoom function on the HUD. He saw a flash of blue in space. His heart began to beat harder. He knew of only one blue ship besides the Arwings. The approaching ship had a wide wing span. He lowered the weapon for a moment. Thoughts raced through his mind. The Hook Echo had no wave reflection. It didn't show up on radar. Krystal didn't need radar to find him. She just used her mind to find his own.
The wide spanned fighter closed in. Kyla gave him the go ahead. "You're in range Syxx. Open up."
Syxx looked toward the incoming ship. The bow of the fighter became to glow as its weapons charged. Syxx held his fire, his paw rolling over the dual trigger and the pistol grip. He hesitated.
Kyla became concerned. "Their weapons are charging."
Syxx pointed the weapon toward the Cloudrunner. He prepped it to fire. But he didn't. He still stared down the sights. The Cloudrunner locked onto the Hook Echo. Syxx still didn't shoot. He tightened the grip on the trigger. His breath began to get heavier, and his aim vibrated.
"Syxx!"
The Cloudrunner fired. Kyla was just as fast to react. A red plasma missile locked onto the ship and trailed it. The red vixen pulled the ship away and rolled it straight upwards. Syxx held tight, until he was bucked off. His free paw swiped toward the side panel of the Hook Echo as it rolled away. But he missed it. He latched the massive weapon to his chest, and floated through space.
X
Kursed let go of the missile. She watched it as it tracked the silver ship before her. It hadn't been hard for her to hunt him down. She recognized his thought patterns. She watched as a white streak immersed from the rear of the ship as it accelerated. A small object fell off the side of it, and disappeared among the space junk. The red missile lost its way and ran off into space, soon disappearing from her sight. But that wasn't what she was concerned about. The object that had fallen off the wing was Fox. She had seen him wing ride before. He was about the only one crazy enough to do that.
She slowed the ship down. She lost sight of the silver fighter. The blue vixen looked through the space junk with her eyes and her mind. She felt him. His was near.
"Where are you?" she whispered to herself.
Kursed nearly jumped out of her fur. A loud thump resonated through the hull of her ship. Before and above her was a heavily armored soldier, kneeling on the fuselage just in front of the cock pit. The silver visor looked down at the armored knuckle that had been forced into the thick hull of the fighter ship. The blue vixen's heart raced and rushed blood through her body harder and faster as the reflective silvery mirror of the Vortec's faceplate looked up from its gaze downward right toward her. She knew that this was Fox.
The armored man continued to stare at her from the outside. His gleaming shoulder plates outlined a silver silhouette against the blue and green planet of Kew. She thought it was beautiful for a moment. Until one iron fist was raised, up and over his own shoulder. It aimed right toward the canopy of the Cloudrunner. But, the glass of the ship was thick and strong. There was no way he could possibly pound through it…
In the following second the fist slammed down on the canopy. A loud slam rang in Kursed's ears. The sound made her ears twitch and her eyes blink. She watched as the tough glass of the ship rebounded the first fist of iron. The armored Cornerian punched his fist down again, this time the glass began to give. A series of silver lines encircled the armored paw, while a single crack trailed up the glass of the canopy.
Her jaw dropped. A single silver crack ran up the canopy, cutting the armored soldier on the outside directly in half. "Wait!! Stop!!"
Fox must have taken her lost offensive the wrong way. What could she have expected from trying to kill him with a missile? She could sense his unwillingness to fire the weapon upon her. That was all different now.
She could sense a thought going through his mind. "You try to kill me. I try to kill you."
Kursed watched in horror from the inside. The black and silver soldier raised one paw again. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Fox… Fox McCloud was trying to kill her. She froze up. She didn't know what to do. One more hit could be enough to shatter the glass of the Cloudrunner's canopy. She would be then left to the merciless vacuum of space; where Fox would watch her die right in front of him.
She began to shudder. The fist began to come down. The blue fox closed her eyes, tensed her muscles and waited. She heard a hard bang. She didn't move. All was silent. She opened a slit of one eye, and peeked through it. The Vortec was no longer in front of her. There was nothing, but the outline of a bright planet and slivers of silvery grained cracks that made a series of circles and cracks were the impact had originated on the Cloudrunner.
She listened to only her own breathing and the silent whining of the ship's engines. She looked through the endless vacuum that was space. She calmed herself down.
"Where did you go?" She thought to herself.
Kursed looked through space with her eyes and mind. She could still feel him. She could sense him. The vixen navigated her ship through space. Syxx wasn't the only thing that she was looking out for. She was on the watch for whoever was piloting the other ship. She had deemed the area as safe, but she had already discovered that it didn't appear on radar. She would have to keep a look out for it with her extra sense.
Kursed looked through the wreckage in the orbit of the planet. It didn't take her much longer. Among the junk, she spotted him. His body was motionless in the floating vacuum of space.
She spoke just over a whisper into the system. "Hello?"
She didn't get a reply. Something was wrong. Was he dead? No. The man wasn't conscious. His limp body floated. His head was tilted back at a very uncomfortable angle. She guessed that a large chunk of junk had knocked him off her ship. It was very lucky; it could have very well been the thing that saved her life.
She wasted about to give up here. She had to talk to him. She had to take some revenge on him. She wasn't finished here.
