Blue Fire,

Ground Level

"He's here,"

Leon knelt and pulled out the small scope he'd stolen after taking down one of the guards. He and Rick were now out of the cell and far into the depths of the cave consisting of many winding tunnels. He could hear Wolf howling in pain from there, in a way that sounded as one would after being run over by a tram and knocked beneath the third rail. No doubt that he'd been pinned and tied—no telling for how long. Yet and still, knowing the art of torture so well, Leon was almost certain he'd find his superior dangling within some sort of wired contraption or perhaps a freestanding type of nailing device. Thinking of this, he listened to the whisper from the young man on his right.

"What will we do now, sir?"

Leon crept to the edge of the rock wall and looked around the curved area, balancing carefully against it, just enough to see a caged area lit by torches, and were members of the bird tribe moving around along with the chief who had jailed him standing in the forefront, one hand holding what appeared to be a long ornamental staff.

"We can't do anything right now," Leon knew they couldn't have made a mad dash out there and pulled any act or heroism. Helping the commander break free of his captors would be a slow process, but it would be done strategically, to make sure they all got out alive.

"Lieutenant...listen.."

From a distance was another voice, a female, speaking in a manner that would have made even a gorilla heel to her demands. "I said, let him go! He hasn't done anything to you. He's not your enemy. As a matter of fact he's mine, and I'll pay you well if you hand him over to me."

Leon flinched as the young man behind him gasped and pointed. "It's her!"

A pink top and black pants. Her hair was short and fluffy, pointy ears and whiskers, and the sound she usually made in her pleasure was a constant purr.

"Monroe....that's her, isn't it?" Rick moved forward just an inch to get a closer look.

"Yes. Yes, it's her."

"Well what is she doing?"

"If I weren't seeing it with my own two eyes I wouldn't believe it. But I think she's trying to rescue our commander, Richard."

"Why would she do that? I thought she hates him. And isn't she Falco Lombardi's girl?"

"Rumor,"

"But you said so yourself, sir."

"I'll tell you a little secret, Rick, if you promise not to tell."

"Of course I promise."

Leon took one more look into the caged area where Katt worked her alluring magic with the chief in hopes of what was obviously an unfeigned effort at freeing Wolf. After seeing that, he leaned back toward Rick and spoke quietly. "Our commander....He's not a young fellow, but he draws women like bees to nectar...."

Rick let out a low but very amused laughter. "Sir, forgive me, but I think you're pulling my leg."

When Leon looked back again, the chief had moved aside to allow his torture artist access to Wolf, and in a short matter of time they had released him, and he' tried to say something, looked at Katt, and then stumbled as she helped him to the nearest chair. "Here," She had pulled something out and offered it to the chief. "It's yours if you all go away and let us leave here without harm."

Magic. Sheer magic.

"She did it," Rick whispered again. "He's free—"

"Shhh," Leon prepared to move ahead. "Get out your taser,"

"Sir?"

"We've got her. Now we follow through with the initial plan..."

The look on Rick's face was one of surprise. He must have been realizing it, that the plan for Katt had been to hit her with one good jolt that would keep her unconscious until the carrier arrived. After that, Leon really wasn't sure of what Wolf wanted to do with her, but he was certain that from there, she would be on her way to a swank little hidden suite somewhere back in Venom.

"Now, those birds have all moved out. Let's go."

Rick followed reluctantly, yet they soon reached the area where Katt was with Wolf, and met them both with surprise.

"Leon—"

Wolf spoke in a horse voice, and right when Katt turned to see them, Rick jabbed the taser into her neck, and she collapsed in the boy's arms, stunning the hell out of their superior, forcing his weakened body out of the chair.

"What the hell did you do that for!"

Rick confusingly looked from one to the other. "But....Commander....Leon told me to,"

Wolf knelt to pick up the taser that had dropped in the scuffle then stood again and angrily stashed it into his jacket. "Leon, you idiot! She just rescued me from that horrendous bunch of exotic fowl and you've zapped her? Do you know what she just did? She gave that clown chief a good amount of money from her savings account.....to save my life!"

Idiot. It was Leon's most loathing insult. "I....I thought...."

"And furthermore, you didn't ask any questions, just bolted right in here and..."

"Sir?" Rick interrupted but Wolf kept going.

"Not now, I'm talking. I would have told you not to—"

"Sir,"

"Dammit boy, What is it!"

"She's getting a bit heavy."

Wolf looked miserably to Leon. "Help him pick her up, would you. Then we'll get out of here, and I'm giving you the responsibility of contacting the backup with our location. Let them know we'll have a prisoner..."

"She's...our prisoner?" Rick intervened, pressing full bore on his luck. "But you were angry with us for shocking her..."

"I said, prisoner dammit!" Wolf gestured cracking a block against the young man's head. "One that I preferred to walk and talk instead of carrying out of here like a corpse! Now lift her and let's get going!"

"Yes, sir." Rick saluted and got his leverage underneath Katt's arms while Leon took the lower half.

And Wolf looked scathingly into his lieutenant's eyes. "No more mistakes, understand me?"

Not a word came from Leon's mouth, only a deep dry swallow, then a very brisk nod.

Katina

The Grotto Waterhole

"I knew you wouldn't last."

Falco didn't bother looking over his shoulder, partly because he was too exhausted and the other part didn't feel like dealing with an earful of bull. Not tonight, I knew I shouldn't have landed at Katina.

"On your way to Zoness, huh?"

He kept his eyes on the glass at the bar in front of him, half empty, straight booze, no rocks. Didn't matter what he did though, because the guy who started talking to him took a seat on the next stool, and then he looked, and saw one less than good old friend, fighter pilot Bruin Hester of Bear Force. He was an usual sort of character to be one of the best pilots in Lylat, liked wearing his sunglasses flipped up and his identification tags dangling on the outside of his shirt. He was stocky with a thick coat of black fur, white paws, gray eyes.

"So's Lombardi, how much did they pay you to quit? Of course that damn stingy McCloud probably wanted to pull back the cut of whatever you had comin' to you."

"I think that's pretty much it, Hester. Tell me what the hell it is you need or get the fuck outta my face."

"Well, here's what I know. There's a General Trussel at Zoness who's looking for a specialist—"

"First off, I've had enough of one general, I don't know what would make you think I need employment from another one."

"Hey, the guy's fair, what can I say? He sure won't toss you to street like Pepper did."

"Sound like everybody's talking,"

"Word gets around. Just like it got around about you and McCloud getting into it at your place last night. What the hell happened anyway? I heard you bloodied his nose pretty damn good after he went over and tried explaining his reason for firing you."

"Friggin' walls do have ears," Falco mumbled.

"What?"

"He didn't fire me. I quit."

"Oh yeah? Then what was he over there for?"

Good question, why the hell was he? To claim Pepper didn't have anything against Avians. To admit his damned mistake at Sector Z and say he was having a hard time dealing with life in general at this point. Too bad Falco hadn't been in the mood for lousy excuses.

"So what was it? Begging you to stay on?"

"Tryin' to save his furry little hide, that's what. Listen, Hester, you said your piece, now get lost—"

"Well you best be glad you got out when you did. There's a lot of new blood out there. I hear from now on Pepper's gonna be reluctant to even use Star Fox for anything much more than patrols and if they're lucky a few reconnaissance missions. Fox just doesn't have what it takes to fight the new wars. If you really want to know, I never thought he was all that good really. More a matter of Pepper feeling bad about the guy's dad and all. But you, man, you made the team what it was, and now with you out, they're finished. That's why Chuck sent me over here to talk to you. He wants you on our team."

"And are you finished, Hester?"

"Not 'til I get a yea or nay from you, comrade."

"I'm not givin' you anything—"

"Come on,"

"Look, I just broke free from one mutt. I ain't joining Bear Claw...don't need 'em—"

"That's Bear Force,"

"Whatever. You can tell ol' Chucky Bear I don't work for anybody else but myself from here on out."

"That's a good one, Lombardi. Work for yourself, eh? And when you get shot down over the deep blue sea, who will you be depending on for search and rescue?"

"I won't get shot down."

"Oh yeah, I forgot, the Avians....they'll all think you're on their side—"

In a trice Falco spun from the stool and at Bruin Hester's throat, shoving the smart-mouthed pilot against the bar in front of a club full of spectators. "I'm not the damned enemy. This is my home just like it is yours and I'll do whatever the hell it takes to get rid of those flies on Zoness if it means me fallin' in on them strapped to a damned warhead. Keep at it and I'll strap your fuzzy bear ass to one."

An ounce of whiskey was still on the counter in Falco's glass. He grabbed the thing and slammed it down his gut then showed himself to the door before the bouncers kicked him to it.

Next stop. Zoness.