Chapter 36: The Loss
A/N: I apologize for the amount of exposition in this chapter, but it's necessary to sum things up and tie everything together. Well, that is... almost everything...
Fox, Krystal, Wolf, and Leon were in the eye of the storm.
Once they escaped the raging battle that was going on around them, the silence and calm struck them like a wave. Surrounding them in a wide circle was a solid mass of Androssian ships; cruisers, frigates, destroyers, and fighters alike, all staying within a certain distance from the Monarch, which hovered aimlessly at the center of Cerinia's hollow core. They were in relative peace compared to the rest of the inner airspace of the planet. The combined fleets of Lylat were still thousands of miles from the planet's core, fighting their way through waves of infected Androssian ships. Time could only tell who would be victorious, but it was none of Fox's concern now. Executing Andross once and for all was his only goal.
As they orbited around the Monarch, searching for its hangar bay, Fox was surprised to see a set of metal doors slide open on the side of its haul, almost welcoming them in.
"Could be a trap," Wolf said, concerned.
"No," Fox corrected, "It's an invitation. Andross wants us to meet him. He could have easily killed us by now by letting his troops swarm us, but I think he wants a showdown."
"Then we'll have to accept," Leon concluded, piloting his wolfin towards the open hangar.
A few minutes later, the four mercenaries, the only remnants of the Star Fox and Star Wolf teams, entered the landing bay and set their ships down. Leaping out of his cockpit and onto the ground, Fox said, "Take whatever weapons you need. There will be no negotiating with Andross."
Clasping his energy shield to his belt and holstering his two laser pistols, Fox turned to Krystal and confirmed that she was bringing her Cerinian staff. Ever since they had entered the vicinity of the lost planet, the blue gem at the top of her staff glowed with a mesmerizing aura; the weapon knew it was home again.
Wolf was packing his wolverine-like claws as usual, as well as a large, automatic blaster. Leon was wearing metal claws as well, but his were jointed and moved in-sync with his fingers. In addition, the assassin carried a wide assortment of bombs strapped to his shoulder and waist belts, weapons that Fox had never once seen the chameleon without.
At the moment, Fox's heart was pounding in his chest. A brick seemed to weigh down his stomach unmercifully, and he had to consciously slow down his breathing to keep it from becoming erratic. Though their wasn't an enemy in sight, and they had probably been through the worst of the day, Fox couldn't help but feel edgy. He saw it in his comrades, as well. Krystal's eyes darted nervously about the dimly lit hangar bay. Wolf bounced lightly on his feet, like a fighter at the beginning of a boxing match. Leon peered out through squinted eyes and absently curled and uncurled his taloned fingers. There was no ceremony to follow. They were all united in one goal and one goal only:
Killing Andross.
Fox gestured with his head towards an illuminated hall on their left. "Let's go."
Without question, Krystal, Wolf, and Leon turned to follow him. It was obvious from the get-go that Andross was expecting them, even leading them along. The ceiling lights in the hallway slowly turned off as they approached each one, forcing them to move on if they wished to remain in the light. On either side, various doors lead into various rooms or hallways, but each one was closed and used red lights to indicate they were locked. Andross probably had the same idea they had; to get things over with as fast as possible.
After a few minutes of walking, they came across a large central elevator that towered up the height of the ship. The indicator light at the top of the door glowed green, so the four mercenaries immediately entered. Without having to press any buttons, the door closed and the elevator car began to rise of its own accord.
Looking around nervously, Leon joked, "You'd expect there to at least be elevator music."
The response from the two vulpines and lupine was underwhelming, but, to their surprise, a faint, calming tune began to play over the comm system.
Wolf groaned and beat his head against the steel wall. "I swear he's insane."
When the car reached the top of the of the Monarch's bridge, it slowed to a halt, and the door opened to reveal the command room's vast interior. A giant wall of glass stretched the entire way around, revealing the massive chunks of the split planet surrounding them, and the raging battle that continued to burn incessantly. The bright, flashing scenery outside only managed to distract them for a moment; ahead of them, on the main control deck, stood Andross.
The simian was facing away from as he gazed outside the window, clothed in his signature white lab coat. His arms were crossed in front of him, and his face was hidden from view, a position he intended to keep for as long as possible.
Fox, Wolf, Krystal, and Leon walked forwards to stand side by side at the edge of the control deck, facing him.
Throwing his arms wide to gesture towards the spectacle outside the Monarch, Andross exclaimed. "Ah! So you've finally come. It's so nice to meet with you all in person. Fox, the heroic mercenary insistent on spilling my guts to avenge his lost father and the Lylat System. Krystal, the exotic Cerinian separated from her homeworld and species, looking desperately for answers to explain the disappearance and destruction of her planet. Wolf, my former pet who betrayed me years ago and has now come back to finish the job. And the green lizard, who nobody gives a rip about, really."
"Screw you too," Leon said in response.
"Fine," Andross sighed, "And Leon, who has come in search of an artist whose tastes are as dark and twisted as his own, and who will count my death as a loss to murderers, villains, and madmen everywhere. There, are you satisfied?" When no one answered, he continued, still refusing to turn around and face them. "Pity that no one else could make it here to receive some more of my epitaphs. For that is what they are; when you die to me, that is what I will right on your gravestones."
"You've always talked too much, Andross," Fox said, drawing his laser pistols. "We didn't come here to banter; we came to execute you."
"But don't you see?" Andross asked, playfully, as he turned his head to look over his shoulder at them. "Without these last words, you will never have the last pieces of the puzzle; the mysteries of the Lylat will never fall into place, and all of my life's work and your work to stop me will be for nothing. In short, these last two decades will become meaningless."
"I didn't come here to find meaning," Fox growled. "I came to save lives by destroying yours. You've taken so much from me, so much from the Lylat System, the only way you can make up for it is dying. So... die."
"Oh, I am dying," Andross answered, finally turning to completely face them. The four mercenaries were surprised to see pulsing red veins covering the left side of Andross's face like spiderwebs. "I have already set my death in motion. Soon, I will go like the rest of my soldiers, and my mind will succumb to this new strain of Aparoid."
"Sorry, Andross," Fox said, raising his blasters to point directly at the monkey. The long, steel barrels matched the silver color of his dyed fur. "But as long as I can kill you one second before you would have died on your own, I will be satisfied. You will die by my hands, and my hands alo – "
A shot rang out, and a green bolt of energy flew through the air only to be absorbed by an invisible energy shield separating them from Andross. Fox looked to his right to find Leon holding a smoking blaster, grinning sheepishly. "Heh heh, uh, sorry."
"As I said," Andross continued, "This is the only way I can find meaning in my last few moments alive, and you are not going to stop me. So you might as well lower you weapons and listen. I have no ultimate plan to take over the world, nor grand achievements to brag about; just a puzzle that I have tried to solve for years and years. First, I spent my life finding all of its pieces, and then trying to put them together. Still, even now, I struggle to find the answers."
"The answers to what?" Krystal asked, committing to hearing the mad simian out.
"The answers to – well, I might as well start at the beginning. I started my brilliant scientific career as the head scientist of the AWG. Well... one of the two heads. Beltino was a brilliant mind, but his thinking was a bit old-fashioned, rest his soul. While researching the effectiveness of nanobots in an ice and debris filled environment in Meteo, I stumbled upon the ruins of an ancient temple."
"We know," Fox said, bluntly, "We've been there."
"You probably set off the defense system, too, I shouldn't wonder," Andross mused as the pulsating red veins slowly inched their way across his face and through his skin. "Good, then you probably will have an easier time understanding my autobiography. Well, I dropped all work on the nanobots (actually the Aparoid strain, or didn't you know?) and devoted all of my resources to deciphering the hieroglyphs in the temple. Carved across the various walls and hallways was the history of the Old Venomian Empire. I'll spare you the details and skip to the part I was most interested in; their strange disappearance and/or untimely demise. The Old Empire's last large-scale project was to create massive warp gates in a triangle around the system; one on Venom, one on Zoness which I covered in icky toxic goo so you would never find it, and the one in Meteo which I found first. I believe during your little adventures in the Lylat Wars you happened to take the warp in Meteo, didn't you? And the warp at Sector X?"
Rolling his eyes, Fox nodded.
"Speaking of Sector X, did you know the Old Empire created them as aids to warping around the Lylat? They were used as waypoints, but when I replicated their system, I found they were much more effective as head starts rather than mid-journey boosts. But I am getting ahead of myself. After I returned with my findings to Corneria, I did more research on the Old Empire, especially its connection with my species. I found that its homeworld and capitol were most likely based on Venom, but, due to the harsh living conditions, no one had sufficiently researched it. Realizing I was on the trail of the largest discovery in Lylat's modern history, I quit my job at the AWG, got myself banished to Venom so I didn't have to pay transport fees and get passports and such, and ended up on its desolate surface soon after.
"Thankfully, my good friend Bill Goats had not completely forgotten me, and the AWG supplied me with a good deal of equipment to start out with, in return for developing weapons for them. Using my own superior intellect, and the inferior intellect of the other exiled criminals I found exiled there, I built up my own little empire. I found a wealth of treasures left behind on Venom, including the second warp hallway, while in the meantime formulating a plan to pursue my ancestors.
"I needed a way to gain control of the space surrounding Sectors X, Y, and Z, as well as a means by which to build costly warp gates in their locations and conduct further research and investigation into the ruins on other planets. Being exiled, this would be no easy task, and I cursed myself for not thinking this through better. The only way I could ever have complete freedom and enough resources to achieve my dream was to declare full-scale wall. By conquering every planet between Venom and Corneria, I was able to get a suitable work force behind my back, gather the large amounts of resources needed, construct the warp gates at the three sectors, and continue archaeological research on Zoness, Aquas, Meteo, and... and I think that was it, really."
By this point, Andross's face was entirely covered in red veins, a very worrying sign to Fox, who had seen the effects of the Aparoid virus before.
"Finally, I succeeded in replicating their project Anomaly. Using the three warp gates, I stumbled upon Sector Ω and the final abode of the Ancients. Unfortunately, it was a dead end. Can you believe it? All of that work, energy, and blood wasted. I expected to find paradise, and instead, I got some more loopy drug trip crap. "Where do I go from here?" I asked myself. I needed more time to put the pieces together. With most of the pieces gathered, I pulled my forces into Sector Ω, cloned Dash to take my place as the shepherd of the outcasts of Venom, left a few decoys for you to find and kill, and prepared to hide away for years. There was only one problem; I needed a planet for fresh resources. Strangely, the reliefs the Ancient Empire had left behind told of an invisible planet hidden away from the naked eye by some sort of unexplainable magic bull-crap. When I ventured out to Cerinia in my final years before retreating into hiding, I was surprised to find not even a footprint or relic from the Old Venomian Empire, just a bunch of indecently dressed blue vulpines with pointy spears.
"Naturally, I was amazed. The Old Empire had left their mark all over the rest of the System, but not on Cerinia. Doing some more research, I discovered more strange carvings, but not by the Venomians. No, they were the work of another race entirely, perhaps the grandfather to our generation and the father of the Old Empire's. They were also much more advanced, as well. They left behind instructions for a strange machine, which, in the old tongue, translates to Anomaly. This older empire had been the muse behind Venom's later exploits. Following their instructions, they built the machine, brought it to Sector Ω, and activated it."
When Andross paused to grimace as the effects of the Aparoid strain worsened, Wolf said, "And then...?"
"And then there were several years of civil strife across the system caused by Lord knows what, the Old Empire became too smart for their own good, and they disappeared. Once again, the same dead end. But, using the most brilliant feat of technology in years, I split Cerinia into smaller chunks and reassembled them as best I could inside the warp dimension. The strain I put on the three warp gates to transport that massive a package was unbelievable. I had to stretch space farther than string cheese from a pizza or the last piece of toilet paper on the roll. Using the methods the carvings on Cerinia described, I finished the last piece of the Anomaly machine. It turned out the device could manipulate space, time, and, most importantly, probability. And by probability, I mean it could make different timelines a reality by crossing, weaving, and melding them together."
At this last bit of information, Fox's ears perked up. "Wait, like the multiverse?"
"Precisely," Andross confirmed. "After the discovery of the machine, there were several years of strife and conflict in the Old Empire, as everyone had no idea what to use it for. Essentially, confronted with the power to actually play God and determine fate by saying, "Let it be..." they froze. They balked. They didn't know what to do. I'm just guessing from here, but there was most likely a power struggle for the machine, and someone used it to cross their timeline with one where a solar flare, universal earthquakes, famine, plagues, and other cataclysms wiped out their empire and all memory of it. We, the current inhabitants of the Lylat, after 30,000 years or so, have nearly grown to their level of sophistication.
"So what?" Fox asked. "Another dead end?"
"No no no," Andross said, waving his hand dismissively, "Just another unanswered question. Why. Why did they wipe themselves out? What could have caused someone, no, an entire species to deem themselves unbeneficial to the world and then annihilate themselves? That is the final question I must answer, Fox. That is the purpose behind my final masterpiece; the second Lylat War!"
Suddenly, Fox made a chilling connection. Pointing to the scientist's disfigured face, he asked, "Is that why... why you're killing yourself?"
"Once again, right on the mark, McCloud," Andross grinned, mischievously. "You see, the easiest way to get inside someone's head is to mimic them. Imitation is the highest form of flattery, as the say. This last war that has come across the Lylat is a grand repetition of the one that occurred thousands of years ago, finally manifesting in my own self-destruction. Beautiful, isn't it?"
"Then, borrowing your language," Leon snickered wickedly as he flexed his clawed fingers, "Excuse us if we pluck this beautiful flower."
Krystal expanded her staff and aimed it at the mad scientist's shield, slowly building up energy for a powerful blast. But well before she could fire, Andross suddenly collapsed onto the floor. Crawling his way over to a large computer system, he ripped open the side and sank his arms into the tangled web of wires and machinery. By now, the aparoid virus had taken over his entire body and was clawing at the gates of his mind. The Monarch had already succumbed to the virus long ago with the rest of his army. As soon as his hands sank into the machinery, red nanobots and metal that flowed like liquid spread up from his arms to envelop his whole body. Andross stumbled back, then slowly raised himself to a standing position. The liquid metal washed up and down his wiry frame, finally solidifying into a horrific coating that seemed to have turned him completely into a machine. Metal links of hexagons covered his body in a flexible mesh, two extra arms made from steal frames and gears extended from each of his shoulders, and knife-like blades protruded at dangerous angles from his back, legs, and arms. But above all, the worst was his face; his teeth glinted with razor-sharp daggers that had been added on, and his eyes were made from layer upon layer of metallic lids, at the center of which glowed red, energy-filled irises.
To Fox, staring into his ruby red eye-pieces was like staring into the hypnotizing laser canon of the Hydra-class assault ship that had nearly ended their lives. It would have, if it wasn't for Falco's last minute heroics. For a second, he hesitated, as the avian's last words echoed through his mind. Gradually, more and more voices joined his; Katt's voice as she sank back into the sea of Androssian forces, Slippy's as he destroyed the shield surrounding Cerinia, Amanda and poor Winston's as they charged the Great Fox across the no-man's land between the two armies, Beltino Toad's last words spoken to his son as the warp gate blew into a thousand pieces before his eyes, Jet's frantic pleas as he sacrificed himself to stop the conflict between Fox and Wolf, and, finally, his father's last promise to come back to him before taking off on his last flight. He felt all of them screaming at the top of their lungs, their voices joining with his as he yelled, "ENOUGH OFF THIS! EXECUTE HIM!"
Surprised by Fox's outburst, Krystal let the ball of accumulated energy at the tip of her staff fly, and it sailed into the shield surrounding Andross's control deck. The shield sparkled for a second before collapsing entirely and disappearing with a high-pitched whine.
As soon as the energy dispersed, Andross charged forwards with unnatural speed. Krystal and Leon dove out of the way while Fox stumbled back, but Wolf stepped forwards and put his full weight into stopping Andross' advance. When the monkey's robotic arms began to grab at Wolf, he shoved the simian away and drew his blaster, placing several shots into his chest. But the metal links that covered his chest deflected both shots, only serving to slow Andross's progress momentarily.
The four combined members of Star Fox and Star Wolf took up positions around the control deck, completely surrounding Andross and firing at him from every angle. Unhooking a grenade from his belt, Leon lobbed it towards Andross with a wide, slow arc, but Andross saw it coming a mile away. He raised one of his arms to swat it away, only to find that Wolf was one step ahead of him. Before Andross could redirect the live grenade, Wolf took aim with his blaster and hit the bomb, causing it to explode in the mad scientist's face. Fox was once again amazed at Wolf and Leon's uncanny ability to read each others minds and work so well together.
As Andross stumbled backwards, clutching at his distorted face, Fox took advantage of the situation to step forward and fire some shots of his own at the possessed monkey. The shots caught Andross's attention, and he removed his hands from his face to reveal that the aparoid virus had already completely healed his wounds. His red eyes glowed, and his sharp teeth twisted into a growl when he noticed Fox. The vulpine's heart sank like a block of ice in his stomach when he realized Andross's intentions, and he dove behind a row of computer monitors just as two streams of lasers struck the spot where he had just been standing. But Andross's eye beams were more powerful than he had anticipated; they easily began to burn through Fox's cover and pursue him even behind the console desks. Heart pumping with intense fear and hatred, Fox scrambled on all fours to escape Andross's eye beams, only a few steps ahead of their impartial destruction.
Diving out from the last row of desks, he knelt to the ground and activated his reflector shield, which projected a series of blue hexagons in front of him. When Andross's eye beams reached his shield, it immediately began to sear through the protective layers one by one. Fox was in danger; in a second, his shield would give way and he'd be fried to a crisp. Additionally, the eye beams had him pinned down. Underneath their crushing force, he could barely move, so running for cover again was out of the question.
Sensing the danger Fox was in, Krystal looked back and forth between the towering simian and the helpless vulpine at his mercy. Readying her staff, she jumped forwards and brought the mace-like end of her staff down on Andross's head. Though the staff sunk several inches into his metal skull, the rest of his body seemed unaffected, and acted on its own much like an insect would. One of his extra arms launched forwards and punched into Krystal's gut with enough force to shatter her bones. The Cerinian vixen doubled over, dropping her staff and clutching her gut with frantic paws.
Suddenly, the battle halted, and a deathly still descended on the room as all eyes turned to Krystal. The silence was so absolute that Fox could hear his lightning-fast heart beat pounding against his eardrums. In disbelief, he stared at Krystal's crippled form. As she bent over, her jaw hung open limply, and a trickle of blood escaped. Her energy suddenly leaving her, the vixen fell to the floor in a crumpled pile at Andross's feet.
"KRYSTAL!" Fox shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice cracking. He just couldn't believe it; it barely registered in his head. Andross had taken so many people that were dear to him that day, he couldn't add anyone else to the body count. Not even Krystal. Especially Krystal. Standing up, Fox dropped his shield and raised both of his blasters, well prepared to make one last desperate attempt to save Krystal and kill Andross.
But before he could step forwards, Leon dove at Andross from nowhere, screaming, "DIE YOU BASTARD!"
Faster than Fox could make sense of, the chameleon sank his hand deep into Andross's chest, metal claws searching with cold, deadly precision for the monkey's heart. Andross let out a guttural roar from the pain, and grabbed onto Leon's shoulders, pulling him closer until they were face to face. As Leon's hand sank deeper into his chest, Andross's eyes lit up with red energy and released twin columns of lasers into the lizards own eyes. But even though they rapidly burned into his skull, the chameleon refused to relent. With one last scream, he ripped his hand out of Andross's chest, pulling his pulsating heart with it.
Lizard and simian fell to the floor as one. With the last breath of life gone from his lungs, Leon's hand fell open, and Andross's heart dropped to the ground. The mad scientist, however, still had some energy left. Crawling like a snake, Andross inched toward his heart, but Fox wouldn't let him reach it. Marching forwards, he brought his boot down on Andross's back as hard as he could, halting his progress. Weakly, Andross stretched his arm out across the floor, but he wasn't reaching for his disconnected heart; instead, to Fox's surprise, he was reaching towards Krystal's fallen body. It was only with the insect-like affects of the aparoid virus that he was able to live on after such a terminal wound.
With his last final breath, Andross managed to say, "I understand it now... why they were so desperate to go back."
Following Andross's gaze, Fox mournfully stared at Krystal, whose untamable tribal tattoos and native fur seemed so out of place in the midst of the harsh, calculating machinery that surrounded her.
"They... they lost something, by moving ahead," Andross continued, his voice getting fainter and fainter. "With all of their vein ambitions, all of their aspirations and intelligence, they couldn't be satisfied... they wanted to go back, to before they had learned all there was to know. To find their innocence, and their naivete again."
Eyes finally closing, Andross gasped, "I feel it... their loss, and mine. What a pity... we'll never have it... back..."
Fox stared scornfully at Andross's frozen form beneath his boot, fists clenched and shaking with anger. But, slowly, his burning rage gave way to pain as sobs racked his body. Tears streamed down his face as he knelt beside Krystal, holding her delicate, ruined body in his arms. In her final moments, she struggled to speak to him, but she couldn't form the words. Instead, her warm, mysterious emerald eyes searched his own, until they, like Andross's, slowly closed.
Fox's sobs broke out into complete screaming as he held her limp body closer to his own, and he buried his face in her shoulder, trying to make the moment last as long as possible. He grasped at any fleeting memory he could of Krystal. He smelled the lingering scent of hers that came all the way from the lost jungles of Cerinia, he felt her soft, smooth fur, and what remained of the warmth in her body, but he still couldn't stop her from fading away. Behind him, Wolf stood, solemnly, eyes lowered to the ground.
Fox couldn't accept it.
He had lost another... he had lost his last.