I'm sorry it's been so damned long since i worked on this, and i'm also sorry about how long it's been taking to start many of the plotlines i'm now starting. there's been so much delicate prep work that i don't even know if any of it will pan out the way i want it too. also, i've been pretty focused on my other writings alot too, and been suffering from serious writer's block lately. anyway, i hope this chapter brings at least something to the table yall like!
Mira let out a quiet sigh as she clung to Will on the back of his bike, not really paying attention to the streets as they whipped by. They were currently on their way back to Will's apartment, having dropped his damaged phone off at the electronic shop his coworker had recommended to him.
I'm glad he's made some new friends without me. I really hope they help him get through all of this. That thought, as happy of a thought as it was, also sent a shiver of pain through her heart, knowing that some of the things he was going through were entirely on her.
"We're here. You can let go of me now."
She panicked as she realized the bike was off, letting go of him and slipping off the bike. "Sorry. Just got lost in thought."
"It's alright. You've been through a lot lately."
Hmph, nothing like what you are going through.
"Yeah, I guess. Shall we?" she gestured at the elevator as she slipped her helmet off, having to slip Will's issued ballistic goggles onto the forehead before she did so. As she had gotten the helmet on earth, the only one they could find that could fit her was totally opened faced. And she had been using the goggles to protect her eyes without having to buy something for the same purpose.
"Yeah." He unclipped his own full face helmet off as he led the way to the elevator.
"So you really are okay with me dating Blake?" she asked that as she walked with him, not wanting to look at him.
Damn it, stop asking him that! He already said he was okay with it! Of course, if she was honest, she wanted him to have a problem with it. Anything to show some of his raw emotions she had yet to see. His laughing with his co-workers, though seemingly quite genuine, had felt very off to her. Almost as though he was forcing it.
"I told you, yes. I'm okay with it. Just drop it." He snapped that out, almost angrily.
"Okay." She kept her eyes off him as they entered the elevator.
Damn it, now he's getting angry with me…
"Speaking of… Tomorrow, you need to go talk to him in person. Okay?"
"Okay…" she stared at the wall of the elevator as it rose into the building, beeping as it passed each level. Once the door opened, they stepped out into the floor, both turning toward his apartment without a word.
"Hawkins! Get a rifle if you have one! We need to get to the station now!" Mira nearly jumped out of her skin as someone shouted behind her, seeing Will's cop partner running down the hallway to them. He had a grey combat plate on his chest, a police badge bouncing on it. Balanced in his hand was a Cornerian carbine.
"What? The hell are you talking about Bradley?" Will sounded as utterly confused as Mira felt, Bradley coming to a huffing stop.
"Ya heard me… LT needs us back at the station! Some big bank hit just went down in district two, they need everyone on hand A-S-A-P!" he huffed that out, clearly out of breath.
"Alright. Give me five minutes."
"I've got a squad car out front, just get down there when you're ready!" once he spoke, he jogged back to the elevator, slipping inside.
"Mira, just stay inside the apartment. I'll be back when I can, okay?" he spat that out as he opened his door, not even looking at her as he rushed inside.
"Okay. Will…" her heart started racing as she began to realize she was about to be by herself once again. "Be careful, okay?" she barely managed to get that out, biting her lip.
He stopped for a moment as he slung his own set of plates on, Mira seeing his worried smile. "I'll be fine Mira. I promise." As soon as he said that, he scooped the old human rifle off the table, the several magazines with it he stuffed into the cargo pockets on his pants. A moment later, he was sprinting out of the door.
I'm not sure I'll ever get used to this… thing. The man flexed the mechanical fingers hidden under a thick leather glove, the prosthetic giving him most of the sensations he was supposed to have. Even so, it was about half as receptive as an actual arm, which was beyond abnormal to him.
Curse that damned kid! Who the hell thinks using a starfighter as a god damned battering ram is a good idea! He slammed the mechanical fist into the wall of the van he was sitting in, putting a dent in the exposed metal.
Calm yourself. Getting angry over things never get's anything done. Keep your cool. He took a deep breath, trying to calm his racing mind. In a few moments, he would know if Andrew's crazy plan had any merit to it what so ever. If it did, they could pull off a hostile take over like no other in the Lylat system. With Lylat under their control, they could fuel the war currently raging in the Sol system, and completely bankrupt and cripple the nations there. Easy pickings for a Venom led Lylat.
The muffled reports of a series of rapid and controlled plasma shots rang through the van, prompting the aged man to open his eyes. There wasn't anyone else in the van at the moment, the back doors wide open. He listened as screams and plasma blasts continued to ring through the van, staring at the bright street outside. It was in a quieter part of the city, being no more than a small bank in the industrial sector, so there usually was very little foot traffic. With it being in the middle of the work day meant there was even fewer pedestrians on the street. The sounds of gunfire would ensure those out and about were likely cowering in their corners by now.
After only moments, the weapons fire petered out, leaving nothing but a ringing alarm in it's wake. The man took that as his cue, stepping from the van and onto the street, making his way toward bank building. The moment he was clear of the van, the smells of burning flesh and heated metal intermingled in his nose. He smiled at that, stopping to take a moment to breath in the glorious smell. It brought back a plethora of memories he had always loved seeing.
With his moment of reminiscence gone, he stepped up to the front of the bank, seeing several glowing holes in the front glass, the front door totally shattered. Inside was a scene of carnage and bodies. He stepped through the shattered door, nodding to one of the armored soldiers with in the bank, past the smoking corpses in the entryway. The sound of the buildings alarm filled him as it continued to ring and ring without stopping.
His eyes greedily swept across each and every single corpse, each one caused his smile to intensify until his eyes fell upon a feline woman who was still alive, clutching her side as she yowled quietly to herself.
"Oh? What do we have here?" he crouched down at the woman, gently touching her shoulder. Her eyes snapped open, giving him a pitifully pained expression.
"P-p-please d-don-'t-t hu-r-rt me!" she begged with every bit of pain and fear she could muster. It was cute in a way, the way her voice quaked and trembled. Frankly though, he found her attempt to appease to him funny more than anything.
"Hurt you my dear? Oh, I'm not going to do that." He smiled warmly to her, slipping his old kinetic handgun from its holster and pressing it to her forehead. There was a split moment of relief, followed by fear and panic from the girl, just before he gently squeezed the trigger. The ensuing bang tore at his ears in the enclosed space, but the pain brought a smile to his face as he stood. He pulled a small cloth out of one of his pockets and wiped the blood from the weapon, not wanting it staining the steel. The blood and fur on him however, he didn't care about one bit.
"Make sure all of the others are dead sergeant. Me finding a live one shows quite poorly on your record."
"Yes sir! You heard him men, put a round into their skulls, I want everybody here a corpse!" there were several acknowledgements to the armored soldiers electronic buzzed voice, the sergeant marching over to him as he finished. "Bravo says they are in the vault. ETA to exfil two mikes."
"Good work. How'd the armor fare?" he spoke as he holstered his sidearm, looking over the shiny black material, the thin plates overlapping much as an old knight's plate armor would. Every plate had a faint purple sheen on it, just noticeable enough to be seen and no more.
"Perfectly, sir." The man spoke as he brushed some carbon off his shoulder, the armor beneath not having a single mark.
"Good. Once you've destroyed the recorders and made sure there are no survivors, return to the warehouse. We have some sales to make." He patted the sergeants armored shoulder, taking one last deep breath of the burned air and death around him, a grin exploding across his face as he left the building.
Fox glanced at his phone as it began ringing, the device slowly shifting across his desk. The ringtone it played was an old rock song from his childhood, one both he and Slippy would jam out to as kids. He smirked at the sound of it, answering the call without looking at the device. A moment later, a hologram of Slippy appeared before him, floating several centimeters off the desk.
"Fox! Long time no hear!" Slippy was grinning at him.
"Yeah, how's it going out on Katina?" Fox whole heartedly returned the grin, feeling his tail's impulse to wag. It would have been if he wasn't sitting on it.
"Well… not as good as we could hope. Ground forces are having loads of trouble digging out the last of the human troops. With the civil war going on in Sol, the UEC isn't providing many ships to help, and the remaining human ships are sticking to guerilla tactics. Been an utter mess. That said, their supplies are running lower by the day. It won't be much longer before they simply run out of ammo and food." Slippy's grin shifted into a grimace as he responded, rubbing the back of his head. "Anyway, that's not why I'm calling. I wanted to talk to you about something."
"Yeah, sure, what's up Slip?"
"Well, you know how Will's report is… rather vague on how he took out the Aparoid queen on Ariel right?" Fox simply nodded to Slippy, waiting for him to continue. "Well, I've been studying the flight recorder and the damage to his Arwing… He shouldn't be alive right now Fox."
"What? How so?" Fox was immediately intrigued by what Slippy said, having been curious himself on exactly what happened down there. Will had been extremely tight lipped and vague on the subject.
"Well, to start, his engine registered a total flame out long before the final crash. Like, still down in the planet, long. Heck, most of the fighter's systems were totally shot by an impact. No thrusters, no G-Diffusers, no shields… it's a miracle his fighter survived that crash at all. Even the black box was cooked. There's more too. The life support monitors registered him as knocked out before the engine flamed out… the fighter was literally flying itself out, on no engine… it makes no fucking sense to me. Yeah, I guess the sensors could have been screwed up somehow, but they're not… not as far as I can tell at least."
"Huh… that is strange…" Fox rubbed his chin as he spoke, memories of his own flashing through his mind. For some reason, the moments he had with his 'spectral father' came to mind the most. "What killed his fighter? Do you have info on that data?"
"Yeah… and it's even weirder. Near as I can tell, the fighter incurred an extremely heavy impact on the forward shields… heavy enough that his fighter should be a pancake. In that same moment, when the shield capacitors overloaded, there was a massive burst in shield power… I feel like it's a glitch in the data, or I didn't piece the data back together right. Either way, this whole thing is really bugging me. Can you please get some more info from Will?" Slippy looked oddly desperate, clasping his hands in front of him as he pleaded with Fox.
"Yeah, I'll see what I can learn after I get off work today. How's Falco and the other's, anyone get hurt out there?" Fox kinda hated changing the subject on Slippy, especially when it was now bugging him too, but he could see how confused Slippy was as well. He hoped the topic change could help jog the amphibian's brain, as it usually did.
"Uuuh Fox? Falco's on Corneria with Katt…" Slippy's confused expression remained on his face.
"Wait, what? I thought they left with you guys?"
"No, he and Katt requested all of their leave days before we left. They are on vacation! Anyway, Wolf and Sheila are doing great! Though… Wolf's brought a whole bunch of his old goons into the fold. Bunch o pilots and older fighters too. Kinda weird working with so many former criminals but they haven't bothered me yet…" he bit his lip as he spoke, rubbing the back of his head again until he seemed to hop slightly, visibly excited. "Oh, and I'm pretty sure he and Sheila are a thing now!"
"Really, what makes you say that?" Fox kicked back in his chair as he smirked.
"Well… the other night…" Slippy had turned bright red, visibly glancing around before he continued. "I was sitting in the lounge, cooking up a snack, and Sheila came bursting in shouting something about 'playing with your red rocket'! scared me half to death, and she ran out in a panic. They've been sleeping in the same cabin since then."
"Oh jeez…. I definitely didn't see that one coming! Then again, they were acting pretty cozy back at the wedding…" Fox chuckled, glancing at the call time in the corner of the hologram. "Well, sorry to do this to you, but I got a class to teach. Gotta go slip! I'll let you know if I get anything out of Will."
"It's cool Fox. I'll let you know if I find anything too. See ya Fox!" with that, Slippy's image faded away, Fox's smile fading as he thought back on the conversation. I guess I have two things I gotta get out of Will now…
Krystal slipped off the couch to grab her phone from the kitchen, hearing it ringing from where she left it charging. Given it was the device's base ringtone, she knew it wasn't a number of one of her friends, though she had been expecting to get a call back from one of the many jobs she had inquired about. She picked it up and answered it as soon as she was close enough.
"Hello, Krystal McCloud speaking."
"Good, I actually remembered your number… look I tried to reach Fox, but I guess I have his number wrong. I'm called into work, I need someone to go sit with Mira, at least until I get back. She's in a rough spot, bring a weapon." She was shocked by Will's voice spilling through the device, knowing his phone was busted right now. He sounded rushed and almost panicked to boot.
"uh, yeah, sure Will. What happened to her? Fox and I have been really worried about her."
"Oh… yeah, sorry I haven't told you all sooner. She ran into Midnight. He's somewhere on Corneria right now. I don't know what he's doing but he made some vague threat toward her. She's terrified right now, I don't want her left alone." His voice shifted to a pleading tone as he spoke.
"yeah, of course, I'll be with her as soon as I can!" Krystal kept the phone to her ear as she moved through the house, toward their garage.
"Alright, thanks Krystal."
"Yeah, of course Will. Be careful." She slipped into the garage as she responded, moving to the clean new standing safe sitting in the corner of the room.
"You too Krys."
With that, he hung up, Krystal pocketing the device as she dialed the combo for the safe, popping it open to reveal the weapons inside. She quickly grabbed one of the two carbines, about to put a hydrogen cell and power pack in it before stopping herself. I don't think waling the street with a carbine is the brightest idea ever…
She let out a small sigh before stuffing the weapon back into its slot in the weapon safe, locking the door once more before heading inside. It didn't take her long to change into some clothes more appropriate for moving around, simple leggings, a tight t-shirt and her old white Star Fox jacket. Of course, she grabbed the jacket because of the slot sewn into the back for her staff, quickly grabbing the weapon from a stand on her dresser and slipping it into the slot, grabbing her blaster from the nightstand and strapping that to her hip. Much better. Won't startle people now. Plus, the Star Fox symbol will cause people to not bat an eye at me being armed.
She let out a small shuddering sigh, unable to get the past few encounters they had with Midnight out of her mind. He always seemed to be leagues ahead of them. He's gunned Saber down right in front of her, could have easily killed Krystal herself on several occasions, had clinically killed Mira for a short time. Above all that, he had crippled Fox. All while never being caught by them, or even struck, as far as she could remember. They had always seemed helpless against him to her.
Well, that changes now. I will not let him hurt anyone else. With that thought, she purposefully stepped out of the home, already contacting a cab company to hasten her journey.