Chapter 7.

When it rains...

"Nope. Nothing." Greene took off her security helmet, then flattened the ruffled crest on her head with a free wing.

Peppy, Ray, and a handful of assorted security and clergy leaders formed a loose semicircle around her inside the dining hall. Most sat on crates of furniture, with Fox McCloud sitting in a wheelchair on one end of the huddle. He wore an old red and black flight suit as he wheeled closer to the center.

Greene looked up at the faces around her and held up a cheap tablet that looked cut from sheet metal with a centimeter-thick screen on its surface. She cycled through a series of photos on it, tilting it towards the crowd for them to see. Images of the new hallway slid across the screen, awkwardly lit with both camera flashes and helmet headlamps. Some showed featureless stone obelisks, others displayed scaled-down rock pyramids made of the same smooth, seamless stone. The slideshow ended with the photo of the Arwing sitting right by one of the pyramids.

Greene shook her head, "Not a damn thing. No lasers, no tripwires, no trace explosives. Nothing that even looks like a trap, even though the whole thing feels like one. The only things in there are the fighter and whatever this temple-looking bullshit is-"

She caught herself as she looked at the faces of Rock and Ray. She cleared her throat awkwardly and continued, "We sent a drone to check it out first, and then I led a small team in. We even sent some cameras into the ventilation shafts inside and they just lead to the floor of our hydroponics chambers. The thing that blows me away is that it's just rock. All of it."

She shook her head and let a hissing, bewildered sigh pass through her beak. "The whole area is all smooth rock. We couldn't find any cracks or holes or anything. I did find a ruby stuck on top of one of the pyramids, but it's just that: another rock. We ran a scan on it and there's no wires anywhere. No machinery. Nothing."

Fox took the offered tablet and cycled through the photos. Greene's team took a look at the Arwing and found nothing out of the ordinary. Slippy came in after them, took apart as much as he could, and found nothing you wouldn't usually find on an Arwing. The fighter's thrusters, when lit, matched the same drive profile as one of the two lost over Venom at the start of the Lylat Wars. The one flown by James McCloud.

The Arwing itself looked awkwardly lit. It reminded Fox of mysterious-creature-caught-on-camera sightings. He saw the clean white fuselage shining with an eye-watering glare. The canopy itself blended into the immediate darkness surrounding the fighter: a void so total it didn't even offer anything for the lights to reflect off of. He saw the blue G-diffuser nacelles fade into the near-black darkness behind the craft, giving the impression that it emerged from it.

Fox involuntarily shivered. An Arwing in a black, underground void felt almost wrong. A part of his brain struggled to process it, even though he could see it. Arwings often flew in the dark void, but that was in space, where you could at least feel free. Seeing it in the unlit void of a closed space felt strange, claustrophobic, wrong. It triggered memories of Venom and a reflex that got his tail to bristle. He tried to ignore the feeling as he refocused on the fighter.

The Arwing itself looked, and proved to be, clear. Not just of any traps or explosives, but clear of any sign that anyone even used it. No onboard flight data. No recordings. No fur. No residual skin flakes. No trash, forgotten change or even crumbs that might've dropped off of a pilot's muzzle. It looked fresh off an assembly-line, with the only proof of use being an engine scorch-mark pattern on the thruster cone that Peppy recognized and couldn't be imitated without flying the fighter the exact same way the prior pilot used it.

James McCloud's Arwing, with not even a trace of James left behind.

Fox hoped to feel more than just uneasy. He held proof that his dad's fighter survived and sat inside the asteroid, right under the floor. A part of his family still existed that he could return to and maybe even bring back memories from. Instead, the image haunted him.

He remembered an Arwing saving him on Venom, and his father's voice guiding him out. A fighter that swooped in to save his life, only to disappear the moment he escaped. Now he saw the fighter itself, with no sign of anyone flying it.

For a while, he put down every assumption he had and wondered, really wondered, if his dad's ghost guided him out. With time, that idea faded, replaced by the rationalization that he imagined it. His dad died on Venom, and Peppy confirmed it. What he saw back then was just his imagination and the strong combo of adrenaline, fear, and desperation all coming together to make him hear voices and see ghosts in the roaring clouds of dust and flying debris of Andross' stronghold as it all collapsed around him.

Instead he finds the fighter with no one in it. Fox couldn't take his eyes off it and felt a shiver run up his spine as he thought about ghosts again.

Greene eyed the Arwing warily. "The whole thing just appeared out of nowhere. There's nothing about it in any of the initial survey reports-"

"Someone on the survey team has explaining to do." Rock scowled, staring intently at the obelisks. "How do you miss this? How do you not report it?"

Green looked at Rock uncomfortably, beak open like she wanted to answer. Fox caught the look even though it lasted less than a second. Peppy narrowed his eyes at her as Ray spoke up, "This points to an enormous breach in our security, but we have bigger problems to solve right now-"

Peppy narrowed his eyes at Ray, and Fox had a hard time not doing the same. It sounded convenient. At the same time, Ray wasn't wrong. The pirates could return and they still had no way to reach anyone on long-range comms.

Fox liked Ray, and he wanted to believe that Ray wasn't hiding anything from them. At the same time, the part of Fox's mind that urged him to stay armed around Venomians kept bothering him.

His thoughts returned to the Arwing. Whatever just happened, it happened at the same time as, and maybe because of, the pirate attack. If the Arwing's appearance and the attack were connected, he needed to learn why.

On top of that, right at the front of his mind, Fox felt the overwhelming desire to know about the fighter. It felt less like curiosity and more like a hunger: except wherever the hunger came from, it came from the same place as his fears and hopes. It pulled on his core, a place deeper than his heart, and it drew him towards it with the force of a wind strong enough to uproot a tree. He needed to confirm that this fighter was his dad's Arwing. The knowledge that it was there ate at him: a hint about what happened to his dad, only a short distance away. The moment he found out about it, it made up almost every other thought Fox had. He needed to see it. He needed to touch it. He needed to try and find out why it was here, even if no one else found evidence why. He needed to know and see it firsthand, even if all it did was put his hunger to rest.

Taking a breath deep enough to make his lungs ache, even through his painkillers, Fox spoke aloud: "I want to go down there."

"Like hell!" Rock almost shouted the words, with a look at Fox that mixed both concern and shock. A few shook their heads. Greene looked like she swallowed a fly the moment Fox spoke.

Peppy leaned down to Fox's ear. "Fox, I get it. But now's not the time. This can wait-"

"Peppy, I'm in a wheelchair. What else can I do?" Fox looked up at Peppy, paws turned upwards. "Maybe this is connected to the pirate attack. I can't fly an Arwing, and where else can you put me?"

Fox spoke, trying to make himself sound reasonable. "Greene said she didn't find anything dangerous. So did Slippy. I trust their judgment that it's safe."

"And what makes you think you'll find anything they didn't find?" Peppy folded his arms.

Fox held Peppy's gaze as the words sprang off his tongue: "Nothing. Nothing at all. But I have to know, Pep."

He looked at the photo, and his voice softened. "I just...have to."

"Well that's not smart." Falco spoke from across the room. All eyes turned to him as he approached from the hall. "Fox, buddy, you're in bad shape already and you want to go spelunking?"

"I'm surprised that one knows words that long," Ray muttered. Falco ignored him as he stepped up to Fox.

Fox wheeled towards Falco. "Falco, it's safe. If Slippy says he didn't find anything, then I believe him."

Falco folded his wings. "If Slippy didn't find anything, then why do you need to go at all?"

Fox held Falco's gaze as he heard Peppy mutter, "God, I hate it when he gets like this."

Fox turned towards Peppy just in time to catch him rubbing his temples. "You don't let go of anything, do you, Fox?

The next words left Fox's mouth without him thinking them. "It's the only reason why I got this far."

Peppy stared Fox in the eyes, then sighed through pursed lips and pressed his paws together at the top of his forehead.

"Okay." Peppy sighed. "Let's say you go. Let's be reasonable about it. Do you plan to go by yourself? Into a big dark tunnel with no backup when it's clearly a trap?"

"Slippy and Greene checked. If it's a trap, it has to be one that isn't triggered by a drones, a security team, or a mechanic taking the whole thing apart. Does that sound like a reasonable fear?" Fox shot back.

Peppy scowled, scoffed, then laughed an exhausted, mirthless, two-note laugh. "Y'know, for a guy who just cheated death, you're pretty keen on pushing your luck."

Fox heard the beginnings of a concession in the statement. He smiled and decided to push until Peppy would give: "And you can come with me. If it's really that dangerous, you'll see it, and you can pull me back. Deal?"

Falco watched, screwing up his face with a slack lower beak. He let his head roll back and bump the wall when Peppy gave in: "Fine."

"Fox, my guy..." Falco spoke at the ceiling, then brought his gaze down towards Fox. "...at least let me come with, willya? If you're gonna do something stupid, I don't want you to do it without more backup."

"It's fine, Falco. I got Peppy." Falco didn't look reassured, and Fox added, "Plus, we need two good pilots outside and ready, just in case. Slippy can't do it alone."

Falco said nothing for a good few seconds. He brought his head up once, then let it sink slowly, like he needed to weigh the decision in his head. He clicked his beak, "Aight. But if you die twice in the same week, I'm not letting you forget it."

Fox relaxed, and allowed himself a smile. Now, he had a plan.

"I still think you should reconsider."

Rock watched as Peppy held a shotgun, barrel towards the floor of the hangar, and pulled green shells out of a cardboard box. Fox answered for the hare,

"It's safe, Rock. We'll be fine. Plus, I'm not convinced that this tunnel opening and the pirates attacking are all a coincidence. Maybe I'll find something that'll help us figure this out, or if it doesn't, it'll at least give me peace of mind."

Peppy slid the shells into the shotgun slowly, with the occasional glance down the stairwell. Fox continued, "That, and I have Peppy. I appreciate the offer for more guards, but I feel like they'd be a bigger help up here."

Peppy pulled the action back with a harsh clack. With a glance at the shotgun's safety, he kept it pointed at the floor and nodded towards the stairwell. "Gonna be a real pain getting your wheelchair down those stairs, Fox."

"Yeah, well, I'm determined." Fox wheeled towards the stairs. Peppy walked behind him, shotgun strapped to his back. As he took the handles of Fox's wheelchair, Rock sighed,

"Well, I can't stop you. I'll keep you in my prayers. Please don't make me mourn you twice."

"I won't, if I can help it," Fox turned towards Rock with a small smile. "I promise. I'll see you when I get back."

As Fox and Peppy slowly came down the stairs, Fox sincerely hoped he could keep that promise.

The hallway extended a ways into the asteroid, with the only sources of light being a flashlight on Peppy's shotgun, and a flashlight Fox brought with him.

Fox shivered as he felt a breeze come from deeper inside the hallway. Looking around, he finally felt Greene's description sink in: everything looked seamless. No cracks appeared on the hallway's corners where the floor or wall met. The darkness looked almost total for several steps.

At one point, all Fox heard was his own breathing, Peppy's footsteps, the creaking of his wheelchair, and the occasional breeze from deeper in. Peppy kept his shotgun low, pointed at the ground, and let Fox light the way.

For a while, no one spoke. When they reached the room, Fox broke the silence with a sharp breath.

The hallway gave way to a wide space, and the flashlight finally reflected off of more surfaces: featureless obelisks scraped the ceiling along both walls, and a line of pyramids with the same smooth, unmarked stone rose from the center of the floor, extending into the darkness. Each pyramid seemed twice as tall as Peppy, but the space they took up in the room made them feel bigger. It made the ceiling seem closer and the walls feel narrower. The tips of each pyramid seemed to be missing, leaving a flat top about as wide as a fist on every pyramid, except for one.

The one at the end of the line of pyramids featured a red ruby, completing the top of the structure. It shone the moment Fox's flashlight passed over it and onto the thing Fox came for:

The Space Dynamics A-1 Arwing, sitting in a room that seemed not to have a back wall, by the pyramid's base. Fox let the flashlight fall to his lap as he wheeled himself forwards, away from Peppy. Peppy instantly brought his shotgun up to scan the space just beyond the Arwing.

"Okay, Fox, whatever it is you want to do, do it fast." Peppy warily swept his barrel across the space that swallowed the end of his flashlight beam.

Fox got close to the Arwing, and stopped just short of its nose. For a few seconds, he didn't do anything except look. The paint job matched what he remembered. The proportions matched every Arwing he ever saw. By all means, it looked like a normal Arwing.

Even then, he slowly, reverently, reached forwards to touch the nose of the fighter. Fox held his breath, wondering if something would happen the moment his paw reached it. His fur stood on end, and for a moment smaller than a watch could measure, he hesitated, then brought his paw down.

The metal felt cool against his paw. He let out a breath he didn't know he held. He swallowed, looked up at the canopy, and set his jaw. "I want to get inside."

Peppy glanced at Fox, and shouldered his shotgun with a wary look behind him. He stepped onto the fighter's wing and lifted Fox up by his armpits so he could stand by the canopy. Fox let his legs fold under him as he opened the canopy, and he crouched before uneasily sliding into the seat.

Fox looked over every control panel. Unlit displays shone like spiders' eyes when his light passed over them. He looked around for anything that suggested that someone used to fly this. Photos taped to the side, scratches on any of the control panels, hell, even dust in the cracks of the seat. Anything that suggested that someone used to be here. Anything except the feeling that this was just another Arwing.

Peppy watched as Fox searched everywhere. As Fox's paws fumbled through every compartment, he could almost feel Peppy's gaze on the top of his head. Fox felt his ears flatten as he imagined the patient, gentle speech Peppy would give afterwards that would make Fox feel dumb for thinking he'd find anything here, even if he didn't mean to make Fox feel that way. He could slowly feel his own hope fade away as he ran out of places to check.

Fox let out a sigh so long, he felt smaller by the time it ended. He let his head bump into the seat. He glanced up at Peppy, who already crouched down by the cockpit to get closer to Fox's eye-level. Nothing in Peppy's expression suggested he was going to lecture him. He just looked sad. Sad and tired.

Fox didn't even need to say how he felt, either.

"Alright, I think I can get out now."

Peppy nodded, reaching in to pull Fox up by his arm. As Fox staggered up, he glanced at the cockpit lit by his glowing red flashlight-

Wait.

Red?

Peppy already held his shotgun. Fox watched as he saw the source glow bright enough to bathe the room in an eerie red. The ruby on the pyramid glowed and an uneven, bright mist bled from it. It snaked through the dark towards them.

Peppy didn't even wait to see what it'd do.

Fox watched and briefly felt a thunderclap hit his eardrum. Peppy fired a second and a third time, sparks flying off of the ruby with each landed hit. The mist, like a coiling sunbeam, ran into Peppy's chest, through him, and surrounded the canopy.

The canopy slammed shut with a noise almost as loud as the shotgun. Peppy whirled around, stunned by the noise. He briefly grabbed at the space where the beam seemed to go through him. Fox stared as the mist formed shapes inside the cockpit. A brain. Some eyes. Cheeks, ears, hair, and a mouth. A smile.

A red, hovering, disembodied ape's head hovered less than a muzzle's distance from Fox's face. The smile bared teeth.

"Hello, McCloud."

"What's happening?!"

Falco circled the hangar as he heard one of the security pilots raise her voice. He watched as the massive blast doors closed on the hangar. The net lit up with confused calls.

"The entire asteroid is locking down. It's getting new commands from someone and we don't know how-"

Falco eyed the technician on the display as she looked from the panel to her keyboard and back to the panel again. The ape looked just about to panic, but to her credit, she never yelled. He couldn't say the same for the security pilot, who talked fast enough to make Falco think her sentence was just one word.

"Incomingfromallsides!"

Falco watched multiple ships appear from opposite ends of the asteroid, each one lit up on his HUD with a red shape.

Falco didn't even feel shocked. Of course they'd show up. Of course it'd happen right as Fox disappeared. God damn it. He knew it.

He gunned his engines. He'd figure out his I-told-ya-so-ya-got-damn-mo-ron speech later. For now, he needed to find someone in particular and turn her into a smoking crater.

He'd feel better then.

700 views, folks! It may not seem like a lot, but it's a lot to me. I'm grateful for every single one. Now, let's get to the reviews:

Overture OTSW: My bad! If you don't want me to say anything, just let me know. Still, I'm glad you like where this story is going.

Nail Strafer: As usual, you've got good points. I'm working on something that'll hopefully explain why the ferret needs the mercenaries at all. As for the lack of contact and reinforcements, I just never thought much about that. I didn't think that anyone would show up to help a small, struggling space settlement attacked by pirates in a part of the system known for pirate attacks, where even the local government struggles to stay functional. I also don't think of Star Fox as a group that regularly sends status reports to the military, since they're not officially part of it. It's a good point, though. I'll have to keep it in mind for future stories. I'm glad that you thought I did a good job with Miyu's reaction to the money, and with the mercenary team's reaction to the takeover. I wanted those scenes to feel important, and I think I did okay there.

Elarix: I don't want to say too much about Miyu yet. Still, I'm glad that you noticed that. I want to make her character stand out. You and Nail have a good point about why the ferret needs the mercenaries at all, so like I said earlier, I'm working on something to explain why he needs them.

I appreciate the feedback, y'all. Thanks again.