Note: Before we move on, I will speak to a reviewer.
The White Wolf named Alex: Thanks for your reviews, man. However, Krystal cannot save the rest of Star Fox on her own, as the organization has a LOT of henchmen, to the point where she'd be overwhelmed. That's why she's teaming up with allies, old and new. As for Crimson Unit #21, I wouldn't get your hopes up about him.
Chapter five, ladies and gentlemen. Enjoy!
Chapter 5: Capturing the Brothers
When morning came, Peppy looked out the window in sadness, his arms handcuffed to the wall. He wanted to feel happy, but he couldn't. He, along with Fox, Falco, Slippy, Fara, Fay and Miyu, was now the prisoner of the mob. In addition to that, he would never see any of his loved ones again, especially Lucy. The hare could only imagine how the doe would react to his death. She was a strong woman, but she often worried about her friends and family.
Daniel walked into the room, looking at Peppy.
"Peppy Hare." The rabbit greeted.
"Daniel Lapin," Peppy spoke, "what is it that you want? Isn't it already bad enough that you and your allies are planning to execute me and my allies?"
"Relax," Daniel said, "I'm just here to check on you. You're not planning any escape plots, are you?"
"Of course not." The hare said.
"Alright, I'll take your word for it." The rabbit said prior to walking out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Now that he was alone, Peppy let out a sigh. However, he then heard someone whispering to him.
"Peppy."
Turning his head, Peppy saw that no one was outside the window. However, there was a key floating near it. In addition to that, the camera that was in the room was hit with an auto-hack dart, destroying it. Bemused, Peppy turned to look out the window, only for the key to get put in his inner jacket pocket.
"Use it to free yourself and the others." The mysterious voice whispered.
"Thanks Krystal." Peppy whispered, knowing who the voice belonged to. "We should have used your strategy to disable the cameras as we walked through the place and remain under stealth, then we wouldn't have gotten captured."
"Even if we did go through with it, each of us would have had to deal with a near-endless amount of henchmen." Krystal whispered.
"Someone's coming, you should get out of here." The hare whispered to her.
"On it." The invisible vixen whispered back, moving away from the window and running out of the area. Once she moved to a nearby alley, Krystal got into her Arwing, which was also invisible, and flew off. The moment she was out of sight, the Arwing became visible again as Krystal set a course for General Pepper's tower.
"I should really thank Bill and Mr. Armstrong for giving me the cloaking devices to disguise me and my Arwing." Krystal said to herself.
The moment Krystal arrived at General Pepper's office, she was greeted by Art. After that, they spoke with him.
"Good to see that you're here, Krystal." Pepper said. "Now that you have arrived, I want you, Bill and Katt to accompany the Cornerian Knights to Fichina. The Zimmerman Brothers have traveled there in hijacked Cornerian Fighters, so each of you should be able to find them."
"Hold on," Krystal said, "I'm sensing that an informant for the Mauricio Family is recording our conversation."
True to her word, a beagle got up and tried to run out the door. However, one of the soldiers grabbed him and pulled a recorder out of his pocket. The soldier then smashed it, which angered the beagle.
"You'll never save Star Fox!" He cried. "My employers will succeed in their mission and kill them! They'll even get Krystal and the others, and do the same with them!"
"We'll see about that, shall we?" Krystal said as she shot the beagle in the chest, killing him. After that, the cobalt vixen went down to the Flight Academy with Bill, where they explained the mission to the Cornerian Knights.
"Fichina, eh?" Prowl asked.
"We're going there to take down the Zimmerman Brothers?" Collin asked.
"Yes," Krystal said, "but, be warned, they've taken flight in Cornerian Fighters. Don't mistake them for Bill, and don't mistake Bill for them."
"That rule applies to me as well." Steve said. "I'm heading to Fichina with the Knights as well."
"One more thing: Katt is going with us." The cobalt vixen stated. "Bill called her while I went to give Peppy a key to free himself and the others. Don't worry, I used devices to become invisible, so that the enemy wouldn't see me."
"Well, that's good and all, but wouldn't it be kinda unfair?" Miriam asked.
"The Zimmerman Brothers are gangsters, Miriam, they're unfair to everyone." Jethro stated.
"And, before we go, there is someone I'd like all of you to meet." Bill said.
A gorilla walked into the room. He was wearing the uniform of a police trainee, complete with a blaster and a communicator. Following him was Officer Black, who had his baton out.
"Everyone," Bill said, "the police trainee is Charles Mauricio, son of Giorno. Don't worry, unlike the rest of his family, he is not willing to become a mobster like them."
"I've seen him before," Krystal spoke, holding out her hand, "and I have been told his name. However, I have never spoken with him. Nice to meet you."
"Yeah," Charles said as he shook her hand, "I respect you and your Star Fox allies from the bottom of my heart. As for Star Wolf, I'd respect them more if they were more morally conscious."
"We have arrested a few more informants for Charles' father," Officer Black stated, "and we'll make sure that the judge gives them a fitting punishment."
"Well, thank you for that, Maurice, now we have to head to Fichina." Steve said.
"Yes, the Zimmerman Brothers are there." Krystal added.
"When you beat them, bring them back to Corneria in handcuffs." Officer Black said. "I personally want to deal with them myself."
"We'll do that," Bill said, "now let's go!"
The Cornerian Knights, followed by Bill, Krystal and Steve, went down to the garage, where they saw Katt standing by her ship, the Cat's Paw II.
"Took you guys long enough." The pink cat purred.
"We'll talk later, now c'mon!" Flora shouted as she ran to her Zipper. The other Knights did the same, taking flight as soon as they got in. Krystal got in her Arwing the moment they started their Zippers, following them out of the garage. Bill, Steve and Katt were the last ones to leave, following the others in their ships. Once everyone was off of Corneria, they set a course for Fichina, hoping to surprise the Zimmerman Brothers when they arrived.
Landing their hijacked Cornerian Fighters on Fichina, Robert and Simon put on overcoats to protect themselves from the planet's frigid temperatures. After that, the two brothers waited for something interesting to happen. That was until two Cornerian Fighters came down towards them.
"Looks like Pepper sent two of his soldiers after us." Robert said.
"Nothing that we can't deal with." Simon stated.
The two Fighters landed in front of the Zimmerman Brothers, opening up to reveal Bill and Steve. The gray hound and the wolf climbed out of their ships, moving towards the two gray foxes.
"Robert and Simon Zimmerman." Steve spoke.
"William Grey and Steven Armstrong," Simon greeted, "you came by yourselves?"
"That's a dumbass move, gentlemen." Robert scoffed.
"Let's face reality," Steve said, "the both of you are stupid for not bringing any of your henchmen with you."
"We can take anything you throw at us." Simon said.
"That's your problem, Simon," Bill said, "your overconfidence only causes you to underestimate your opponents. As for you, Robert, you're only a good enforcer when it comes to using weapons. When it comes to hand-to-hand combat, however, you're an absolute coward."
"Why don't you come over here and say that to my fist?!" Robert growled.
"Because they're here." Steve said as he pointed to the sky.
Out from the horizon came the Cornerian Knights, Katt and Krystal. Once they heard the engines from the Zippers, the Arwing and the Cat's Paw II, the Zimmerman Brothers got in their hijacked Fighters and began to fight their enemies as Bill and Steve watched on.
"I hope that they beat the Zimmerman Brothers." Bill said.
"They should be able to," Steve said, "the Zimmerman Brothers have no flight record."
Prowl, Collin, Miriam and Katt were in a dogfight with Simon. For the most part, they were doing well. In fact, Simon's lack of flight experience hindered him from achieving any sort of victory. However, the gray tod still had one last trick up his sleeve. With no hesitation, he immediately spoke with Katt on his communicator.
"So, Katt Monroe, you know Falco Lombardi, right?" Simon asked.
"He's my boyfriend, you creep!" Katt shouted as she fired at Simon's Fighter, causing some damage to the wing.
"And you'll be happy to know that none of us have executed him yet." The gray tod said. "However, great harm has befallen him. In fact, his arm has been broken by us. Also, Antonio burnt off some steam by beating him up. It was quite amusing to watch, but it would have been better if I kicked Falco in the groin a few times. Then again, I have stabbed Slippy Toad in the shoulder and stomped on Fay Spaniel's feet."
Katt couldn't help but gasp. Throughout her life, she had never encountered anyone like Simon Zimmerman. He was so cruel, so evil. Not even Star Wolf seemed this bad, barring Leon's status as a torturer, Pigma's deception and Oikonny's relation to Andross. The pink cat didn't have time to be in a state of shock for long, as Simon shot Prowl's Zipper, causing it to start crashing to the ground.
"Prowl!" Collin cried.
"Forget about me," Prowl shouted as he crash-landed his Zipper, "just continue fighting Simon Zimmerman!"
"Yes," Simon chuckled, "and enjoy watching your own violent deaths!"
However, Simon's Fighter had received a few more shots from the Cat's Paw II. After that, the hijacked Fighter wound up getting caught in the middle of an explosion that knocked it out of the sky. Once he was down, Simon found himself ejected from the ship. Opening his eyes, he saw Katt standing over him.
"You'll never get your friends back." Simon smirked at her, only to receive a powerful kick to the groin.
"And you'll never get out of prison!" Katt spat at him. "I hope you like the showers!"
Bill and Steve came over to Katt with handcuffs, letting her put them on Simon.
"I felt the urge to kill him, but I decided not to." The pink cat said.
"Bill, rid his pockets of any form of communication so that he can't contact his allies." Steve told Bill.
"What about the others?" Katt asked.
"They'll take down Robert, I'm sure of it." The wolf said.
Robert was facing off against Krystal, Flora, Jethro, Pierre and Shelly. Unlike Simon, he was doing better in the battle. In fact, he was avoiding a good number of the attacks that came his way. However, he still couldn't beat the pilots who were better at flight and combat than he was. In the process, he began to taunt the others.
"Not bad, for a couple of headaches!" Robert shouted.
"Look Robert, we can do this the easy way or the hard way!" Krystal yelled.
"I like it the hard way, especially with girls!" The gray tod snorted.
"That's only because you're afraid to fight stronger men and strong women!" The cobalt vixen said.
"And you should have just been a pretty princess like on Cerinia!" The ash-colored vulpine taunted. "In fact, you and the other girls in your team should have just stayed at the Great Fox and did the housework while the men in your team had all the action!"
"Newsflash: it's not the 1950s, it's the 22nd Century!" The Cerinian said. "In fact, clear your mind out of all that traditional gibberish, it only clouds your judgement! Here's another piece of advice: when you gloat and taunt while you're in a fight, you've clearly lost!"
"I won't lose! Not to a woman like you!"
Krystal and Robert then entered a firefight, with the two occasionally firing at each other and dodging attacks. In the process, the cobalt vixen managed to damage the wings of the Cornerian Fighter that Robert was in.
"Hey Krystal, mind if we take over?" Shelly asked.
"I don't know, I've pretty much beaten Robert." Krystal stated.
"Pleaze," Pierre spoke, "Zhelly hazn't had much action in zis battle!"
"Okay." The cobalt vixen said as she flew out of the way, allowing Shelly to fly towards Robert. After that, the raven began to fight with the gray tod. Luckily, her shots were connecting, as it whittled down the Cornerian Fighter's armor.
"Nice one, Zhelly!" Pierre complimented.
"Thanks, honey!" Shelly spoke into her communicator.
"How pathetic!" Robert spat.
"You're the one who's pathetic." The raven said. "Given how you're ignorant and hateful, it's clear that nothing can change your mindset. It was nice fighting you, though."
Shelly shot another blast at the hijacked Fighter, causing Robert to go crashing to the ground. After that, Collin and Miriam flew towards their comrades.
"Did you get him?" Collin asked.
"Yes," Flora said, "Shelly shot him down."
"You go, girl!" Miriam cheered.
"Wait, where's Prowl?" Jethro asked.
"Simon Zimmerman shot him down," Collin said, "but he told us to continue fighting."
"Oh, we should go get him!" Krystal said.
"Don't worry," the Border Collie stated, "Prowl's been through worse stuff, barring the missions we've also been on, he'll be fine."
"Bezidez," Pierre said, "what would he encounter on Fichina, mon amie?"
When he crashed to the ground, Prowl was knocked unconscious by hitting his head on the roof of the cockpit of his Zipper. The snow leopard hit the eject button the moment it happened, launching him into the snow. However, this caught the attention of someone wearing an overcoat. This person took Prowl out of the snow and resuscitated him. Opening his eyes, the Cornerian Knight saw the person who saved him: a monkey. The simian had white fur and red eyes, looking down at the snow leopard with an annoyed expression.
"Hey." Prowl said.
"What are you doing here?" The monkey asked.
"I was just on a mission with my team, the Cornerian Knights." The snow leopard stated.
"Then you need to leave!" The simian told him.
"Why?" The feline asked.
"Because I'm trouble!" He harshly said. "My family bloodline is cursed and I fear that I will go down the same path as my grandfather and cousin!"
Bill and Steve approached Prowl and the monkey.
"Prowl, are you alright?" Bill asked.
"Of course," Prowl sarcastically said, "I'm fine after hitting my head and being launched out of my ship."
"Who's the guy next to you?" Steve asked.
"I'm no one!" The monkey lied.
"You're not no one." Bill retorted. "I've seen you before on Corneria. You're Andross' grandson and Oikonny's cousin: Dash Bowman!"
"Yes," Dash said, "and none of you should be around me! My family has caused trouble for the Lylat System, and I doubt that I'm any better than them!"
"Well, what are you doing on Fichina?" Prowl asked.
"For now, I'm just a drifter." The monkey answered. "I have yet to find a place to live."
"Why not come to Corneria?" Bill offered. "There's plenty of room."
"You can even break the Bowman family cycle while you're there, Dash." Steve added.
"I'll think about it." The simian stated as he walked away. "And good luck taking down the Mauricio Family!"
Once Dash was out of sight, Prowl looked at Bill and Steve.
"Did the others take down Robert?" He asked.
"His Cornerian Fighter was shot down, so yes." Bill answered. "We've also handcuffed Simon and stripped him of anything that would help him escape."
"Then let's go see about Robert." Prowl said. "I have a hankering to beat the crap out of him."
"Alright, let's do it." The gray hound said.
"And I'll call a mechanic to come and fix your Zipper!" Steve added.
Robert was surrounded by most of the Cornerian Knights, except for Prowl. In addition to that, Krystal and Katt were behind him. The gray tod didn't have a weapon with him, which meant that he had to use his fists. He had no chance of escape, so it was the only decision he had. Before he could throw a punch, he received a roundhouse kick to the side from Jethro. After that, Robert got a punch in the face from Katt.
"Alright, you've beaten me!" He growled. "I surrender!"
"He's lying." Krystal said. "Whenever someone speaks, I can tell if they're honest or not with my telepathy. Robert's not going to surrender, he's going to stab one of us to death when we turn our backs on him."
Angered, Robert got out his knife and looked at Krystal with utter hatred.
"YOU FUCKING BITCH!!!" He roared as he ran at the cobalt vixen with his knife, only to be stopped by someone.
"Excuse me," Prowl said as he held Robert's wrist, tightly enough so that he dropped his knife, "but you're long overdue for your trip to the slammer. You and your brother both."
"Prowl, you're alright!" Shelly said.
"Just like I said." Collin stated.
"Now," Prowl spoke to Robert, "like Krystal said, you were going to stab someone to death. Would you have started here?"
Prowl picked up Robert's knife and stabbed him in the cheek, causing the gray tod to scream and fall to the ground. Now that he was down, the vulpine gangster backed away in both fear and cowardice.
"No more!" Robert cried. "Please, forgive me! Forgive me for all I have done!"
"Ask forgiveness from all the people you and your brother have killed, and add those who you have currently taken hostage to that list." Prowl stated. "I never had the slightest chance of forgiving you, especially since one of your victims was my great aunt."
"The Mauricio Family was just paying me to do what I did!" The gray tod whimpered. "We've even been assembled by someone who's claiming to help us! I'll pay you whatever money you want to make up for what I did! Please, don't hurt me! Hurt those chicks who shot me out of the air!"
"Oh, forget it," the snow leopard said, "you really are a piece of work. Not only are you the kind of guy to run from a fight and sell out your allies, but you engage in absolute sexism. People like you make me sick. What you have done throughout your career cannot be repaid with money!"
Prowl threw a punch at Robert, knocking him unconscious. After that, he handed the unconscious vulpine over to Bill and Steve.
"Do to him what you did to Simon." The snow leopard said, turning over to Flora. "Send a message to both General Pepper and Officer Black."
"Sure thing," Flora said, "I'm just glad that this mission is over."
Once they got back to Corneria, the Cornerian Knights, Katt and Krystal let Bill and Steve hand over the Zimmerman Brothers to Officer Black. Needless to say, the mule was happy to load them into a cruiser.
"Good to know that someone has finally beaten them." He said. "The boys and I even caught some of Mauricio's men, who just so happened to be snitches for him. They chose death over capture, though."
"Fitting end to a couple of snitches." Flora said.
"But we still don't know who got the Mauricio Family and the Zimmerman Brothers together." Collin said. "Robert said something about someone having them team up."
"Whoever it is," Miriam stated, "we need to find him."
"We'll find him and beat him." Prowl said. "We just need to figure out where he is."
"And you will." General Pepper said as he approached the group with a photograph.
"How can you tell?" Shelly asked.
"I took the photograph that he's holding." Krystal said, pulling out an index card from her pocket. "And I even got this out of Robert's pocket."
Taking the index card out of Krystal's hand, the Cornerian Knights began to read it.
Attention Zimmerman Brothers,
The mercenary team, Star Fox, has been a thorn in your side for yours, from what I can tell. They're also a thorn in the side of the Mauricio Family. If the both of you worked together, you could finally rid the galaxy of Star Fox. By capturing them and eventually executing them, you can also deal with Star Wolf. Once they're gone, the Lylat System would be ours for the taking. One more thing: leave the Cerinian, Krystal Bodimead, alone when you capture Star Fox. She's too dangerous for hostage material.
Crimson Unit #21
"That's our guy." Jethro said.
"Oui." Pierre stated.
"But what's on the photograph?" Katt asked.
Handing the team the photograph, Krystal showed them something that was floating near Aquas. It was an oddly-shaped object, looking like a sphere going through a rectangular prism. It also had shades of red, silver, gold and white on it. Whatever this machine was, it needed to be destroyed.
"What is it?" Flora asked.
"It's a space station." Krystal answered. "However, it has only been up for a few months, so it's brand new. I used my telepathy to learn its name: Indiscipline."
"Should we go after it?" Jethro asked.
"Wait until tomorrow," Pepper told them, "you've had enough action for today, Cornerian Knights. As for you, Krystal, Katt, Bill and Steve, come with me, we need to work out a strategy for breaching Indiscipline and taking it down."
"Right." Bill said.
"Taking down that thing should be easy." Steve said.
"But it's important to have two or more of the Knights scout the area while the others fly outside." Krystal argued.
"Come now, hon." Katt said. "How tough could that place be?"
Meanwhile, Crimson Unit #21 had been informed of the Zimmerman Brothers' capture by Giorno. Needless to say, he was NOT happy.
"Dammit," he swore, "we're running low on allies! The Cornerian Army must be searching everywhere for our men and arresting them so that they can beat us! As for the Cornerian Knights, they're turning into a serious threat! For a couple of rookies, they're doing well! Adding to that the fact my son is in the team, and we'll all be taken down before we can take the Lylat System over!"
He then fired a blast from an arm-mounted blaster at a machine.
"Alright," Crimson Unit #21 told himself, "calm down. The Cornerian Army might be slowly taking down the gangsters I'm working with, but I'm still able to fight them. After all, I served with them until the accident that caused certain parts of my body to get replaced with technology. Even when I wanted to be freed, some of the soldiers kept me around and treated me like a freak. I took off for Zoness after that, plotting my return to Corneria in order to start my quest for galactic domination, like how that fool Andross tried and failed at."
Looking out the windows of Indiscipline, the mysterious figure waited for something interesting to happen.
"Send whoever you want, General Pepper." Crimson Unit #21 said to himself. "Chances are, you'll never see them again."
Note: Oh boy, that's our new villain. Don't think that the Mauricio Family is out of the way, they still need to be defeated. Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed that chapter and I hope that all of you are doing well. Until next time guys, this is Newcomer24, signing off. Peace!