Cowboy Star Fox

By Wolf O'Donnell

WARNING: This fanfic will contain swearing, graphic scenes of death and violence and the use of British-English Spelling and Grammar. If any of these things offend you or if you are underaged, please do not read any further. Upon reading any word or letter in this file, you hereby agree to forfeit all your rights to sue me and that I cannot be held liable for any psychological or physical damage caused by the contents of this fanfic. Star Fox and all related characters (including me) are copyrighted by Nintendo. Scales, Dinosaur Planet and all related characters are copyrighted by Rare. The Gospel Army, Dr. Jerome Kano, the Sekai Foundation and all related characters and places are copyrighted by me.

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Episode 8: Diggin'

The bomb had torn through the hospital building. A gaping hole was all that was left of Fox's room; the rooms on either side of his, the room above and the room below had been decimated by the blast. The room above Fox's had caved in and crashed into Fox's, the force of which had caused the floor to collapse and the whole room to collapse into the one on the ground floor below.
Bill picked up the chunk of what had once been wall and moved it best he could away from the pile of rubble. He had been searching through the rubble for hours for any survivors. All he had done was to dig up six bodies. Four of which had been patients, two of which had been hospital staff.
"Make that seven," he muttered under his breath, as he removed another piece of concrete.
Gazing up lifelessly and sightlessly from the rubble was the nurse that had been attending to Fox, Julia. Blood stained her once delicate features and the look on her eyes was one of pure terror. Bill reached out slowly towards Julia's face and closed her eyelids for the final time.
Julia. Bill knew Julia quite well. She was an undercover officer working within the hospital. Julia was on lone from the Special Tactics Agency of the Sekai Foundation to help the Lylat Alliance combat against the evils of the Lylat Syndicate. She was a smart young lady, always keen to help out and show off what she knew. Some called her smart, others called her pretentious. However, none underestimated what she could do. Julia could always be counted on to get things done.
A small smile spread across Bill's face, as he remembered her attitude. Julia was like some kind of motherly figure, even before she worked undercover at the hospital. She was caring and would always help those in need. Julia would always stop for those that had been wounded in action and help them. The way she applied iodine to possibly infected wounds was with a care similar to that of a mother for her child.
He could remember arriving at his desk once, to find it completely cleared of its clutter and to find that everything had been organised so neatly that even he could find it, despite having the organisational skills of crab grass. Whenever other people had tried to organise his desk, he would never find be able to find documents or the things he needed afterwards. It was as if the people deliberately hid essential items from him. With Julia, it was as if she knew how he thought. Everything was organised, yet everything was where he expected it to be.
It seemed to Bill that Julia always seemed to be there for him or those that needed her. Somehow, she always knew their birthdays and would always send a thoughtfully chosen birthday card, along with a gift that made one wonder whether she could read minds. There was almost always a smile on her face. She delighted in her work. She delighted in helping others. Her laugh was like sunshine itself and the glint in her eyes was one of vitality, even maybe of a little bit of mischief.
Though Bill loved her because of her qualities. He loved her as a friend. Now she was dead. Now her small pranks would never brighten their day. Her body, which had once been warm and caring, was now cold and unmoving. She was dead. What was worse was that her work, her findings were gone. Any information she held on the Syndicate's illegal activities within the hospital were gone.
"Bill."
The grey-furred canine turned round and saw Fox standing not too far away from him. A small, faint smile spread across Bill's face, but it was not what could be called a genuine smile.
"Fox, what are you doing here?" he asked his best friend curiously. "You should be with the other patients." He looked back at Julia out of the corner of his eyes. "Go back, Fox."
"Bill, it's no use," Fox told his canine friend. "You're not going to find anymore people in there." He made his way cautiously across the rubble and peered down at the face that lay within the concrete. "Nurse Julia," he muttered under his breath. "Bill," he said out loud, "I think you should stop now. There's no point in carrying on, besides, there couldn't have been that many people lost in the explosion anyway."
Fox had thought it a miracle that he had survived the explosion, or perhaps some Act of God. He had only gone out for a 'quick whizz', as he so kindly put it, and then the bomb had exploded, killing and wounding like all bombs do. That bomb was meant for him, surely, yet he was the one that had survived.
"You know, it's kind of ironic when you think about it," said Fox with a smirk on his muzzle. "Someone tried to kill my father with a bomb, but it ended up killing my mother instead. Now someone's tried to kill me with a bomb and it ends up killing other innocent people."
The vulpine sighed, as he sat down on a piece of former ceiling.
"Perhaps its some kind of cruel joke," he mused to himself. "My family's enemies always come after the male members with bombs, but end up hurting other people, innocent people that don't deserve to die that way. I think this strange fate is my family's legacy, an heirloom passed down through the generations." He laughed bitterly at that thought. "I'm like some kind of black hole. Everything around me is drawn and sucked into danger. Perhaps it would be better if I lived alone, if nobody knew me, then nobody would get hurt."
Another thought occurred to him. Would his son, if he ever had one, suffer the same fate?
"Or perhaps, it would be best if I didn't live at all," he muttered under his breath. "Why should I continue living when all these innocent people are dying all around me?"
"Fox, it's not your fault," protested Bill with a shake of his head. He strode over and sat down beside Fox, placing a hand on the shoulder of his best friend. "You couldn't have known. Nobody could have known. If it is anyone's fault, it's those Gospel bastards." An angry expression spread across Bill's face when he thought of the Gospel Army and how they terrorised the citizens of Lylat in an attempt to bring down the Lylat Alliance. "They're such cowards. If only we could take down that organisation once and for all."
Yet Bill had this nagging feeling that Gospel wasn't behind this attack. The bomb attack didn't display the Gospel Army's usual characterstics. The Gospel Army usually worked through suicide bombings to ensure that no one could be arrested over the bombings. Another characteristic of Gospel Army bombings, was that they usually attacked military complexes or anything to do with Lylat Alliance. Civilians were hardly targeted. The only targets were military personnel from the Lylat Alliance. As far as Bill knew, there were none in this hospital.
Fox didn't say another thing. He just sat there quietly, thinking about all the events that had happened in his life. The vulpine thought about the events of how his mother had died, when his father died and when Andross started to invade the Lylat System, one planet after another. It was then that Fox thought about the Gospel Army and how it... Fox's thoughts trailed off right there. It was then that he realised something.
The Gospel Army's attacks on the Lylat System mirrored those by the Venomian Army. Both had attacked the same places in the same order. It seemed to him that the Gospel Army was mocking him. Or was he looking too deeply into the situation?
A sigh escaped Fox's furry muzzle.
"Have you checked Julia's records?" he asked Bill. He too knew about Julia's true purpose within the hospital. The vulpine had a sneaking suspicion that the bomb might not have been meant for him. Perhaps it was meant for Julia. "Perhaps she was getting too close to the Syndicate member in this hospital."
Bill shook his head in reply.
"Fara's went to search for it, but it's missing," replied the canine. A thought suddenly occurred to him, one that gave evidence to support that Gospel didn't carry out the bombing. "It's as if whoever planted the bomb knew about Julia. I'm thinking that the bomb was meant for Julia, not for you." That did not surprise him. The Syndicate liked to get rid of inconvenient people through bombs and putting the blame on terrorist organisations. It was their way of doing things. Perhaps this attack was by the Syndicate, not Gospel. He glanced back towards Julia's body, which still lay within the rubble. "Poor Julia," he muttered under his breath.

Fara marched in to find that Caiman was not in his cell. She turned round to face a passing police officer.
"Hey!" she called to the bloodhound. "What happened to Caiman?"
"Oh, that Krystal girl took him off to Room 101," replied the officer.
It looked to Fara that Krystal had already beaten her to the punch. Well, she would see whether the blue-furred vixen was doing things right. Fara didn't know why, but she had always felt disdain for Krystal the very moment she had laid eyes on the Cerinian. She had always thought that too many girls wanted Fox and with the addition of Krystal... Well, Fara certainly didn't like the additional competition.
"Tell me!" Fara heard Krystal scream from down the corridor.
The Fennec fox rushed over to Room 101 and rushed in through a side-door that led behind the two-way mirror.
"How's she doing?" asked Fara, as she approached a police officer that was standing within the small room. Fara turned her head and looked through the two-way mirror at Krystal.
"She's doing okay," replied the officer, "but she hasn't got him to talk at all. Not surprising, really. None of us have been able to get him to talk about the Syndicate."
Within Room 101, Krystal was doing her best to interrogate Caiman and it wasn't half-bad, if by interrogation you meant intimidation.
"Look, Caiman, a lot of lives are resting on what you know," snarled Krystal sternly. "You either tell me what I want to know, or I beat it out of you." She anticipated his next statement, so she quickly said, "And remember, I'm not from the police, so I can beat the shit out of you whenever I like. Got that?" She received one silent nod from the reptile in reply. "Now is the Syndicate supplying explosives to the Gospel Army?"
"You don't understand," protested Caiman with a shake of his head. "The Syndicate's got agents everywhere. If I tell you, its secrets, they'll kill me for sure!"
A sigh escaped Krystal's muzzle.
"Look, we'll provide you with protection if you tell," said Krystal through clenched teeth. "I promise you, once you've told us all you know, we'll be able to take down the Syndicate once and for all. Now are you going to selfishly risk thousands of innocent lives just for your own?" There was a silent pause, as if Caiman was thinking up of a reply. Quickly, Krystal thought about whom she could compare Caiman to.
Out from her memory, she remembered Peppy telling her about someone called Pigma Dengar. She could remember Peppy's spiteful account of how the pig had betrayed the Star Fox Team to Andross and the continued to work for the mad scientist.
"I'd have expected such selfish behaviour from a fat bastard like Pigma, but from you?" stated Krystal firmly. Mentally, she crossed her fingers and hoped for the best. Would it work?
"Okay, I'll tell," agreed Caiman, "but will you promise that I'll get police protection?"
Krystal nodded in reply.
"I promise," she told Caiman. "Where is the Syndicate based? Is the Syndicate supplying explosives to the Gospel Army?"
"The Syndicate's based in Corneria City," replied Caiman cautiously. "It's inside the Kleinfelter Plaza in the city centre." He paused a while, taking in deep breaths. It was difficult to spill the Syndicate's best kept secrets and frightening. After all, he was risking his life and the Syndicate had ways of killing traitors that made death look like a blessing.
"What about the explosives?" asked Krystal sternly. "Is the Syndicate supplying explosives to Gospel?"
Caiman smiled nervously. He then realised that it was probably impossible for them to take down the entire Syndicate. Caiman knew the truth and he realised that the Lylat Police was only one organisation and simply wasn't large enough at that.
"In a way, I guess the Syndicate is," came his mysterious reply. How was it that he had forgotten about Gospel's relationship with the Syndicate? Now such forgetfulness looked as if it would cost him his life. "I don't think I can tell you anymore," he protested with a shake of his head. I'll be dead for sure if I continue."
Krystal grabbed Caiman by the lapels of his shirt.
"You'll be dead now if you don't talk," retorted Krystal. A thought entered her mind. Why had Caiman changed his mind all of a sudden? Was the Syndicate really that frightening and if so, why had he blabbed in the first place?
"You can't win against the Syndicate," protested Caiman quickly. "Even if you get rid of its Leader, another will take his place." He was suddenly lifted out of his shirt until his eyes were level with Krystal's. Caiman could see the determination in those eyes of hers. They seemed to burn with a passion, a passion to destroy the Syndicate and all it stood for. "No! No more. I can't tell you anymore."
"You have to!"
The door to the room suddenly opened and Fara stepped in, closing the door silently behind her.
"Caiman, what is it that scares you so much?" asked Fara curiously. "That the Syndicate might have operatives in the Lylat Police? That some of the officers here are on their payroll?"
"Fara? What are you doing here?" asked Krystal curiously.
A smile spread across Fara's muzzle.
"It looked like you needed a helping hand," replied Fara. She grabbed Caiman's chair and motioned for Krystal to let go, which she did. Fara pushed the seat back underneath Caiman and held him down there with one hand. "Look, Caiman, we figured out on our own that the Gospel Army and the Lylat Syndicate are in cahoots with each other. We figured out on our own that the Syndicate is selling explosives to Gospel, that it's selling weapons to Gospel. If you tell us more, no one will be the wiser."
Caiman shook his head.
"You don't understand," he told her. "Gospel has its agents everywhere." He suddenly realised his mistake.
"What do you mean, Gospel?" asked Krystal curiously.
"What does it matter now? I'm going to die anyway," he muttered to himself. Caiman looked up at Krystal and then at Fara. "The Gospel Army owns the Lylat Syndicate," he told them. "The Syndicate is the Gospel Army. They're both two elements of the same organisation."

* * * * *

They all shone brightly. Each one was a monitor and each monitor had a different display. Some displayed text. Others displayed graphs and charts. Two displayed the inside of what looked like an operating room. One displayed the face of a person.
"Studies on the A-Virus are progressing well, sir," said the person on the monitor. "Due to the virus' unusual non-sepcificity, it is able to infect more than one type of cell and more than one species. If used correctly, we will be able to use the A-Virus against the Lylat Alliance and crush it."
"The Gospel Army will not operate in that way," said a second voice from the person sitting in front of the monitors. "The A-Virus is of no use to us if used on an entire population. It seems to me that you do not understand what the Gospel Army's true intentions are."
"Of course, I understand," protested the person on the monitor. "It is to avenge the destruction of our home planet, Cerinia."
"Our home planet? Cerinia is not my home planet." The person in the room full of monitors sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Yes, that was what the Cerinian People's Organisation was for, but when I took over it and turned it into the Gospel Army, the organisation's objectives changed." The man in the monitor room chuckled. "I see no reason for us to live in the past and avenging a planet that no longer exists. You see, I intend to wipe out all life from the Lylat System so that we can establish a new order and a new race. With the A-Virus as a gene vector, I shall be able to create the ultimate lifeform and populate all of Lylat with it. We shall create a new future, one ruled by the Gospel Army!"
"Can't you see the glory of our new purpose?" continued the person in the room full of monitors and electrical equipment. "We shall create a new race subservient to the Gospel Army alone. It will be a superior race incapable of hate, incapable of sorrow and of evil. This new race will have none of the faults and misgivings of the current races. They will be like Gods! Can you not see how much better our new goal is than petty revenge?"
"Yes, sir," came the stuttered reply.
A smile appeared on the face of the person that sat in the room full of monitors. It was a devious smile, a frightening and evil smile and the glint in his eyes displayed a hint of insanity.
"Then continue as planned," said the person in the room full of monitors. "Nothing must stop the great Gospel Army and nothing shall! The Super Race shall populate this pitiful solar system!"

To be continued...