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CHAPTER ONE
Late Night
Beltino Toad sipped his coffee, looking bleary-eyed at the monitor on his desk. The computer's clock showed 12:03 am. Just looking at the time made him feel exhausted, but he knew he wasn't going to finish what he was doing if he fixated on that. About a week ago, the top brass gave Beltino's team a project they needed done yesterday, and he and his team had been scrambling to finish ever since. This was his fourth late night in a row. Often he thought of his work ethic with a mark of pride, but not tonight. He just wanted to get out of here, go home, and collapse into bed.
After readjusting his glasses, he resumed pounding the keys, glancing out his office window every so often. The Cornerian military's largest base spread out around his laboratory building, and the lights still glowed brightly despite the late hour. After all, they had to be ever vigilant and ready to defend their planet. Andross taught them that well. Past the mountains to the south, some of Corneria City's taller skyscrapers peeked over, twinkling in the night.
At last, the final words appeared on his screen. Smiling, Beltino emailed his report to General Peppy and shut down his machine, as he headed to the door. Grabbing his coat off the wall and turning off the lights never felt so good. The elevator brought him to the first floor, announcing his arrival with a small 'ding'. The doors slid open, leaving nothing between him and his car but a dark hallway and a quick walk across the parking lot. The lot's lights shone through the glass doors at the far end of the corridor, calling his name.
As he approached the exit, three dark figures blocked the light. Just by their silhouette, he recognized them as wearing standard issue Cornerian soldier uniforms, complete with helmets, body armor, backpacks, and laser rifles. Beltino didn't even blink at the sight. This was a military base after all.
One of them swiped a key card at the reader next to the door, opening it up. Beltino slowed his step. Strange... For the most part, only scientists were supposed to have access to this building, not to mention entering at this late hour was suspect.
As the three stepped in, one of them pointed at Beltino. "That's him! Get him!"
A wave of panic washed over Beltino, as he spun around and ran the other way. Heavy boots echoed along the hallway behind him. What's going on?! Why is this happening to me?! Am I having a nightmare?
Beltino ran as fast as his legs could carry him, diving around a corner. An alarm button hung on the wall nearby. He pounded on it as hard as he could, but nothing happened. Surprised, Beltino hammered it several more times. Why weren't the alarms going off?! The soldiers rounded the corner, leveling their weapons at him. Beltino raised his hands up, heart pounding. They formed a triangle around him.
Beltino tried to get a look at who the soldiers were, but all of them had visors that concealed the top halves of their faces. The long muzzles and tails gave all of them away as canines, but that didn't help much, considering the vast majority of Cornerian citizens were canines anyway. One of them was a husky, one of them was a jackal...
The last one grabbed him round the shoulder and yanked him in close. The toad cried out, the canine's grip almost pulling the arm out of its socket.
"Dr. Beltino Toad?" The canine spoke with a calm, but firm voice.
His hot breath fogged Beltino's glasses with how close together they were, giving the toad chills. Why does his voice sound familiar?
"Beltino Toad?" the canine repeated.
"Y-yes?" He adjusted his askew glasses.
The canine let out a little chuckle, raising his helmet's visor.
Beltino gasped. How?! How did this man get in here?!
The wolf's right eye, shining in the dark, sized up the toad like a predator sizing up his next meal. A computerized eye patch covered the other eye, a long scar running underneath it and through the dark gray fur surrounding it. Wolf O'Donnell. Wolf's wicked toothy grin looked like it could've come from Death himself. "Pleasure to meet you. You're coming with us."
He wrapped one of his arms round Beltino's armpit, one of the fake soldiers getting the other side. They carried him down the hallway, his feet dragging on the tiled floor. As they rounded a corner, Beltino spotted a security camera mounted near the ceiling, looking right at them. Wolf and his cronies acted like it wasn't even there.
"Please! Someone help me!" Beltino cried out to the camera, craning his head towards it. "Wolf O'Donnell's got me! He's in the base! Call security!"
The fake soldiers laughed at him, Wolf even stopping to give the camera a grin and the finger.
"You think we're that stupid?" He pointed at the camera. "Your security guards are watching looping footage of empty hallways. They're blind and they don't even know it. Nobody is coming to help you."
A cold chill gripped Beltino, those final words ringing in his ears.
The group entered the building's maintenance section and boarded a large cargo elevator. Without warning, Wolf grabbed the badge lanyard around Beltino's neck and yanked it off, almost knocking off his glasses in the process. Moving the badge across a scanner, the scanner's light glowed green and the elevator descended.
He's taking me towards the classified vaults under the base? What could be down there that he wants? Oh god, he'll have all of Corneria's military secrets at his fingertips!
Still, there was one last hope. A round-the-clock security detail always manned the entrance to the vaults, with a minimum of four guards there at all times. They had armored security booths, and they'd be waiting for Wolf's crew once the doors opened. Beltino said a silent prayer.
Thunk!
Beltino opened his eyes. Next to Wolf, the fake husky soldier crouched down, unzipping his large backpack and pulling something huge out of it. Beltino's heart stopped when he saw what it was. It was a scaled down, man-portable version of a plasma mini gun that the Cornerian military normally mounted to vehicles, but it could still shred through many common types of armor easily.
Husky extracted an ammunition cell out of the backpack, attaching it to the weapon's charging port with a loud clack. Hefting the weapon, he stepped towards the crack in the elevator doors, leveling the weapon at it as the floors ticked by.
Ding!
Husky opened fire as the doors opened, waving the gun from left to right for maximum coverage. The gun illuminated the elevator with a blinding red glare, the weapon's muzzle roaring. Beltino closed his eyes and covered his ears, crying out from the assault on his senses. He thought it would never end. The toad curled up into a little ball on the floor, pressing his head to the floor, wishing it would stop.
Suddenly, it did, the elevator quiet again, but the smell of burnt metal and flesh now filled the air. Beltino didn't want to open his eyes. What would he see if he did? He couldn't keep his eyes shut forever though, so he pried them open.
The security checkpoint stood before him. There were two armored security booths, one on either side of a corridor, a path leading between them. It looked like it had been on the front line of a battle. The mini gun had punctured holes straight through all of it like it wasn't there. What now? That was the last thing between Wolf and the vaults!
Speaking of, the vault door waited past the checkpoint, the two-meter thick door taking up most of the wall at the end of the hallway.
Wolf pulled him between the booths towards it. Jackal shot the lock off of one of the booths, stepping inside and dragging a guard's body out, also covered with holes. Glancing inside, Beltino saw the other guard had fallen on top of the alarm button in front of him, but again nothing had happened.
As Wolf's compatriot pulled the first guard's corpse along the floor, Beltino looked into the dead body's eyes. That poor young man...his expression said it all. He didn't have time to feel anything but utter shock when that mini gun ripped him to pieces. At least it had been quick.
Wolf stepped in front of Beltino, looking at him. Beltino froze. What is he going to do to me now?! But without a word, Wolf whipped Beltino's glasses off, and pushed him towards an eye scanner on the left side of the door. Jackal pulled the corpse towards the scanner on the right, also pulling a badge lanyard off of it and handing it to Husky.
"Ready?" Wolf looked at his two teammates. "Three, two, one!"
Wolf shoved Beltino's eye into the retinal scanner, while Jackal did the same with the guard on the right. At the same time, Husky entered the badges into card slots next to the retinal scanners. A green light illuminated over the vault door, the entrance grinding open. As they waited for it to finish opening, Wolf passed back Beltino's glasses. With a shaking hand, the toad put them back on.
"All right Mr. Beltino." Wolf pulled a slip of paper out of his pocket. After reading it, he returned his attention to the toad. "We're after one specific thing here. Nothing more, nothing less. You're going to help us find it."
Only one thing? The vault complex contained millions of items, going back hundreds of years of history. What could Wolf want down here?
They stepped through the vault door into a small parking garage. Instead of cars, small carts waited in an orderly line along one wall, all plugged into charging ports. Wolf grabbed Beltino round the wrist and flung him into the front passenger seat of one of the carts, before getting into the cargo bed behind him. The toad felt the tip of Wolf's blaster prodding him in the back of the head. Jackal took the driver's seat, while Husky tossed the guard's corpse into a second cart and got behind the wheel.
"Lucky man today Beltino." Wolf chuckled. "You get shotgun."
Setting out, they glided through an industrial gray hallway, garish fluorescent lights reflecting off of the smooth concrete. These vaults spread out like a maze, expanded many times over several decades through a natural underground cavern beneath the base. You could get lost for hours down here if you didn't know where you were going. That didn't seem to deter Wolf though. He read off the slip of paper, calling out to Jackal which way to go at each intersection.
How did he learn so much about our security system, and how to compromise it? How does he know the layout of this place? Beltino trembled, eyes cast towards the lupine behind him. And what's he going to do with me once he gets what he wants? He won't need me anymore after that! I've got to escape, but how?!
"How's your son doing these days?" Wolf placed his muzzle on the toad's shoulder, speaking into Beltino's ear. "Still working for that pup Fox McCloud?"
The toad froze. It still felt unreal that one of the most wanted men in Lylat sat behind him, pointing a laser at his back. Hard to believe not twenty minutes ago he'd just been typing out a report...
"Boss, we're here." Jackal pointed at the door beside them.
Another thick metal door towered above them, set into the right side wall. Like the entrance to the vault, it too had a double key card, double retinal scan setup. After repeating the unlock routine with Beltino and the guard's corpse, the vault door hissed open. Cool mist poured out through the opening.
A massive warehouse greeted them on the other side, racks of metal shelves standing several stories tall. Shiny metal boxes and cases of various sizes filled the shelves, the room so large you couldn't see the other end from the entrance. Wolf stepped into the warehouse first. He didn't look happy as he eyed the size of the place.
"All right, Mr. Toad." Wolf whirled around. "We don't have all night. What's the fastest way to find a specific case here?"
While frightened, Beltino got an idea. Security would notice the break-in eventually, no matter how careful Wolf had been. If I slow him down, that could be my best chance of surviving this.
"W-w-well..." Beltino cleared his throat, pointing at a terminal set into the wall. "That computer has a search program."
"Then get to work." Wolf shoved him towards the terminal, Beltino almost falling face first into the mounted keyboard. After catching his balance and dusting himself off, he typed in his user name and password, pressing the enter key. A message appeared on the screen in big red letters.
Invalid User Name/Password. Two attempts left.
Wolf narrowed his eye. "Problems, doctor?"
"S-s-sorry, hard to focus." Beltino readjusted his glasses. "I must've hit the wrong key somewhere. Let me try again."
He typed his credentials in again.
Invalid User Name/Password. One attempt left.
Wolf growled, stepping right behind him. "For your sake..." The lupine let his breath linger on the toad's neck. "You better get it right next time."
"Of course." Beltino wiped the sweat from his brow, this time punching each key one by one, as if to make sure he wouldn't mess up this time. He pushed the enter key.
Too many failed logins. Your account has been locked.
Snarling, Wolf grabbed Beltino round his collar and smashed his face into the concrete wall next to the terminal, shattering his glasses. He screamed, eyes shut as he felt the glass puncture into his flesh. His face burned in pain as he rubbed his hands over it, trying to brush away all the shards.
Before he could finish, Wolf whirled him back around and yelled into his face, teeth snapping with every word. "You can't remember your stupid password?! How the hell am I supposed to find what I'm looking for now?"
Beltino winced, feeling spittle stinging the wounds on his face. He couldn't speak with how blinding the pain was, but finally managed to stammer out a reply. "S-s-sorry! I don't work well under pressure!" The toad forced himself to open up one eye, the other having gotten nicked across the eyelid by one of the shards.
Wolf glowered at Beltino for a moment or two. Taking a break from speaking seemed to have calmed him down a bit. "Okay Mr. Toad, since I'm in such a good mood today..." The lupine pushed him away to arm's length. "I'll give you a second chance. Do you know another way to find the case? Because if you don't, you're useless to me."
Those last words floated through Beltino's head, as he tried to stay calm. "U-u-uh," Beltino stammered, "the cases might be arranged in numeric order. It's worth a-"
"Harry! Franco!" Wolf turned around, hollering at his men. "Check the racks by number! I'll stay here with Beltino."
As the two ran off to search, Wolf dragged over a nearby crate and sat on it, blaster drawn and pointed in Beltino's general direction. Several minutes passed without a word. The toad trembled where he stood. Was there anything else he could do to get away?
"Harry!" Franco called out. "Find a forklift! Case might be high up!"
Beltino blinked. That gave him another idea. Some time ago, the technology division on base created an app to control the vault's forklifts with your smart phone. It was done to cut the number of people who'd need access to the vaults, but when Beltino first heard about it he thought it sounded silly. Nonetheless he had gone to a mandatory training class on the app along with everyone else who had vault access, but that was a few months ago. Since he only came to the vaults once in a blue moon, he'd never really used the app and forgotten about it until now.
But if I could get it working...
Beltino knew his phone well enough to hit the buttons without looking. Maybe he could start the app with the phone still in his pocket. He entered his password, and peeked when Wolf wasn't looking. The main menu showed on the screen, as well as he could tell without glasses. If he remembered right, the forklift app was the last icon on the left on the bottom row, on the third page. Beltino swiped a couple times and then tapped, checking what he'd done.
Success! He saw a live camera feed on the screen, showing a forklift somewhere in this room. Where was it though? Beltino moved his finger across the screen. A pile of crates collapsed behind Wolf, exposing the forklift connected to his app.
Wolf turned around, gaping at the sight. "Eh? Why's that thing moving by itself?"
Beltino couldn't believe he was about to do this, but it was his only chance left. Taking a deep breath, the toad slid his finger across the touch screen. The forklift's rubber wheels squealed on the polished concrete floor, the machine barreling straight at Wolf. He just managed to jump out of the way before it crashed into a wall. Beltino ran out the open vault door, jumping into one of the electric carts, peeling out as he sped away. Goodness, it was like being in an action movie or something, but it scared the hell out of him. Did Slippy do things like this with Star Fox every day?
A laser flashed past his shoulder, almost scorching his white coat. He ducked, sparing a glance back. Wolf drove after him in the other cart, firing his blaster. Beltino weaved his cart back and forth, trying to keep the mercenary from getting a good shot. But it was hard to see much of anything without his glasses, the walls looking like giant white blurs in his vision.
One shot struck Beltino in the back. The toad screamed, clapping a hand over the blaster wound. The pain was so blinding he shut his eyes, unable to focus on the road ahead. With a loud crunch, the cart buried itself into the concrete wall at the end of the corridor, sending him flying head first over the steering wheel. He hit the wall with a sickening smack, sliding down the wall and coming to a rest on the cart's crumpled hood.
~X~
"Got ya, sneaky toad." Wolf holstered his blaster, stepping out of the cart.
He rushed towards the wreck. The toad laid there, knocked unconscious. Wolf sighed and shook his head. Should've been paying more attention. Not as sharp as I used to be when I was younger, I guess.
Grunting, he leaned over to pick up Beltino. "Damn you're heavy for a short guy." Wolf heaved him off the wreck, carrying him over to the second electric cart. After laying the scientist in the back, Wolf took a moment to crack his neck, rotating the arm he'd used for carrying. He looked back at his captive again. Makin' my work harder than it needs to be too. If you just cooperated I wouldn't have had to shoot you! I was gonna just tie you up, once we got what we wanted. Someone would've found ya later and ya would've been fine. He tapped the radio on his chest. "Harry, Franco, I'm coming back. Beltino tried to sneak off but I caught him. Keep looking."
"Roger," Franco answered.
The lupine steered the cart back into the warehouse, looking for his teammates. Despite the massive size of the space, it wasn't too hard to find them. Every sound echoed, so Wolf followed the sounds of boxes being pushed around. Rounding the corner, Wolf spotted the pair inspecting a handful of small cases stacked on a shelf.
"So, found the case yet?"
"Yeah boss, just in time." Franco smiled as he held a small silver case by its handle.
The case almost looked like a businessman's metal briefcase, exempting the government branding and the heavy duty metallic brackets holding it closed. Seemed innocent enough, but what was inside would make Star Wolf a fortune. It had been almost a year of prep work to make it to this moment. Wolf motioned for Franco to hand it over, the jackal passing it to him. Holding his breath, Wolf compared the number on the case's bar code to his slip of paper. It was correct, but he checked twice to make sure. This is it! We've got it!
"Well done, boys!" Wolf laughed, grinning at them. "You'll get a nice bonus for this!"
The other two chuckled back, giving each other a glance.
This job's gone better than I hoped. Wolf kept looking at the case, hardly believing it was in his hands. Would've liked to bring Panther and Leon along for this ride, but no way we would've been able to pass for Cornerian soldiers with their species. He looked at Harry and Franco again. Still, these two guys have been nothing but professional. Somethin' we need more of in Star Wolf right now. I think promotions are in order once we get back to the Retribution.
Wolf's smile faded away, as he assessed the logistics of what came next. They still had to get out of here with the case, after all. Until now, all Star Wolf had known about the case was its vault and serial number. Wolf had been afraid the item would end up being something bigger and heavier, but this was small enough to slip inside one of their backpacks. That'd make it a lot easier to get it out unnoticed.
"Must be something really important in there." Franco turned his head to look at it from all sides. He turned to the husky. "What do you think it is, Harry?"
Harry shook his head. "Dunno, but I'd really like to know."
Wolf's curiosity was aroused too. However, the client specifically said not to open it. If they did, the contract was null and void, and that contract had a one hundred million credit payment.
Franco spared a moment to look back at the rack they'd taken it off of. "Hey, there's another case here. Looks just like that one."
Everyone crowded to take a look. Sure enough, it was as Franco said. Same metallic briefcase and same heavy-duty brackets sitting on the shelf.
"Makes you think, don't it?" Harry eyed the second container. "If there's two of what's in this case, why weren't we told to get both?"
While intrigued, Wolf needed to keep his teammates on task.
"The client's contract was to steal only this case." Wolf slipped the case into his backpack. "If she wanted both, she should have had that in writing. The other case isn't our problem." He slid the backpack back over his shoulders. "Anyway, we got what we came for, so let's scram. Giichi's done a great job with the security so far, but we're lucky an alarm hasn't gone off yet."
As if on cue, loud klaxons echoed through the underground vaults. Wolf cursed himself. Harry and Franco looked around, the lupine seeing the panic in their eyes. "Hey, look at me." He stepped over, using his hands to point their muzzles towards his face. "We're not caught yet. Let's focus on how to get out of this, okay?"
A loud groan rose up from the electric cart nearby. Wolf turned around to see Beltino still in the back, moaning but still unconscious. In all the excitement, he'd forgotten about him.
"Hmm..." A toothy smile crossed Wolf's face.