Rita's Story Part Two: Where Do We Go From Here?
By: Rita LaShette (Kyla DeYoung) The mist swirled. It enveloped Rita in its gauzy deep embrace. She stood perfectly still, not wanting to take a wrong step and end up with a broken leg, or worse. How did I get here? She started, as her thoughts seemed to echo in the air around her. She remembered the feeling she was having. She'd felt if before she was sure. How did I get here!? Her thought was more panicked. I'm only asleep! This is just a dream! She told herself not really sure if she believed it or not. The mist swirled faster and Rita could have sworn that she felt it grab at her legs. A soft taunting giggle echoed through the thick mist. A whisper followed the giggle, but its words were indistinguishable. Rita strained to her ears to listen, but still couldn't make out the words. She thought that maybe she'd heard a second voice whispering with the first. Carefully she tried to remember what she'd been doing before she'd found herself in this strange misty place. Fox was talking. What was he talking about? General Pepper! Right! Andross. I remember Andross had gathered more forces and was getting ready to attack again. And Pepper needed us to help defend Lylat! Then. what happened after that? I don't remember. The voices escalated into a loud wild gibbering. Their words still made no sense. Then they started laughing in high shrill screams. Rita's skin crawled at the sound of it and some of her fur stood out on end. Peppy watched Rita sleeping on the rec room couch. He sensed that she was troubled, but it seemed faint and distant. Fox leaned over and scratched her ears when a slightly troubled look came over her face. Then he went back to playing vid-games against Falco and Slippy. Something rubbed against Rita's ears. It didn't feel hostile; in fact it felt a bit comforting. The shrieking laughter continued and she was forced to cover her ears. Then one of the voices spoke so she could understand what it said, "Poor little girl!" it mocked, "Afraid and alone! All alone!" "Hope the boogey man doesn't get her!" the other voice piped in. "Run away little girl before the boogey man comes!" At that precise moment an object sailed over her head and landed at her feet. The mist pulled back a bit and she found herself staring down at Andross's severed head. Rita fought back the sudden overwhelming urge to gag. Then the head moved and stared back up at her grinning. She screamed and backed away quickly. Her backward progress was abruptly halted when a pair of arms closed around her, one hand clamped down on her muzzle and cut off her screams. "The boogey man has got you now!" chanted the first voice. "That's not the boogey man!" said the second, "but he's probably just as bad!" Both voices started their shrieking laughter again. "Hello, love." Wolf O'Donnell's voice said in her ear. The hand that didn't have a grip on her muzzle began to wander about her body. Rita struggled harder to get away, but she only seemed to become more entangled in Wolf's embrace. "Soon, love, soon!" he whispered. Then he released her and she felt like she was falling. Around her the scene vanished into darkness. Rita sat upright on the couch suddenly and screamed. Fox was beside her in less than an instant, asking her questions in rapid succession. "Geez, Fox! Give her a little room to breathe!" Slippy suggested. Rita flopped back down and sighed. "It was just a bad dream. No need to get worked up about it!" she laughed half-heartedly. It had felt so real to her, and the image of Andross's severed head still burned bright in her mind. As did the feel of Wolf's hands touching her body. She shivered. "Okay, If you say so." Fox leaned over and kissed her forehead gently. Falco snickered, "Why don't you two get a room?" He ducked just as one of the couch cushions sailed over his head. Peppy quietly snuck out of the room as a full-scale pillow fight began. Thirty minutes or so later the rec room looked as if a tornado had run through it and jumped up and down on things a few times, then just for good measure, kicked all the furniture. But, of course, there aren't any tornadoes in the middle of space, so they blamed it on Falco. Rita lay in bed with the covers tucked up tightly under her chin. She stared at the ceiling of her room waiting for sleep to come. Realizing that she probably wouldn't get any sleep that night she rolled over and sighed softly. The room was completely dark except for a small sliver of light the came from under the door, where it didn't fit correctly in it's sliding track anymore. She made a mental note to ask Slippy if he could do anything about it. The dream vision she'd had earlier still haunted her. She'd taken an extra long shower before going to bed and had scrubbed at her body where she swore she could still feel Wolf's touch. Half of the fur on certain parts of her body had been scrubbed off before Falco got impatient and turned off the hot water connection to the bathroom. He'd gotten his beak tweaked for that. Shivering again from her thoughts, she quietly got out of bed and padded down the hall to Fox's room. She peeked in and found him fast asleep with half of the covers thrown off the bed. The door closed almost silently behind her, only making a soft whooshing noise. Rita picked up a blanket from the floor where it had been tossed off the bed and wrapped up in it, as her short nightdress wasn't very warm. Carefully she curled up on the bed next to Fox, trying not to wake him. He groaned softly. "Ri?" he mumbled. Damn, she thought. "'S me." She answered out loud. "Couldn't sleep." "Mmm." he trailed off and his breathing got deeper. He'd fallen asleep again. "Hold me, I'm scared." She said in a barely audible voice. She didn't expect him to respond, she just felt better saying it. Fox mumbled something in his sleep, then rolled over and put an arm around her. Rita snuggled in closer. He probably didn't mean to, but I'm going to take advantage of this while I can, she thought as she slowly drifted closer to the edges of sleep. She almost swore she'd heard him say 'I love you' as she drifted off to sleep, but later decided that she'd been dreaming already. When she woke the next morning Fox was already gone. He had tucked his comforter around her so she wouldn't get cold before he left. The door to the room opened as she rolled over. Fox walked in wrapped in a towel and using another to dry his hair. " 'S about time you woke up!" He said cheerfully. "Peppy's almost got breakfast ready." He rifled through his closet looking for clothes. Finally locating his pants he turned back to face her. "You going to go or are you going to sit there and watch me get dressed?" Rita grinned and twirled a piece of her hair through her fingers. "Given the choice I think I'll stay and watch." He blushed and sputtered something. Then a mischievous grin spread across his face. "If you say so." The next thing she knew there was a towel over her face. By the time she got untangled from it Fox already had his boxers on and had just pulled his pants up. She got out of bed and headed for the door, making sure to grab Fox's behind before running at top speed down the hall. She yelled something as she bolted past the kitchen. "What'd she say?" Slippy inquired. "Sounded like 'I was in the same room with a naked man'". Falco answered between mouthfuls just as Fox ran past in pursuit of the flame-haired vixen. Fox yelled as he chased her. "I know why they call you vixens now! Just wait'll I catch you!" a few seconds later there was a loud laugh then the sound of some metal objects hitting the floor in a loud crash. Fox strolled back into the kitchen with Rita draped over his neck like a scarf. He held one of her arms in one hand and her leg in the other. Her nightdress had adjusted itself around her hips and she was unsuccessfully using her free hand to pull it into a more modest position. "What's for breakfast?" "Nice underwear, Rita!" snickered Falco. "Shut up, bird-boy." "O'DONNELL!" Andross's voice thundered through the base. "GET DOWN HERE NOW!" The shouts echoed off the walls for a few seconds then died away. Wolf carefully folded a photo cut from an old newspaper and placed it in a small box, which was in turn securely put in a locked drawer. He sighed. "I wonder if he's ever even thought of using an intercom system or a comm unit of some sort." Reluctantly he made sure the drawer was locked the plodded out of his room to see what Andross wanted this time. Leon and Pigma watched him leave, then ran into his room. "Where'd he put it?" Pigma's voice screeched. Leon narrowed his eyes at his teammate the produced a lock-pick kit from his shirt. Selecting one of the tools he deftly opened the lock on the drawer that Wolf had placed the box in. Within seconds they had the box open and were perusing it's contents. "Why is he so protective of all these photos and old newspaper clippings?" Pigma sounded bored. "Stupid mutton-chop!" hissed Leon. "They're all pictures of the same person!" he waved a small photo that had been cut from a yearbook under the fat swine's nose. Pigma angrily snatched the picture from Leon. Leon could almost see the light come on in the dim recesses of Pigma's head when he realized who was in the photo. Pigma began to laugh in his high-pitched porcine laugh. "Her!" he squealed. "All these pictures are of her!" "Apparently he's got quite an obsession with her." Leon said as he dug a photo out of the pile. "And has had it for quite some time." He held up the photo so Pigma could see it. It was a picture of Rita at about the age of 14. She was sitting at a desk hunched over some indistinguishable homework. Her Academy uniform was wrinkled and it looked as if she'd been sitting there for quite a while. The photo had been taken through a window. Another was a picture of Rita cut out of a newspaper. She was sitting on a bench in what was probably a flower garden. A light colored sundress hung down to her ankles and she look very pale. The caption under the picture read: "LaShette shortly after being released from hospital, where she spent extensive time in recovery for a gun shot wound." Pigma laughed at the newspaper photo. "What a deceiving picture! She's not that calm or pretty!" He squealed in mirth. Leon ruffled through a few more photos then stashed them back in the box. "If we ever catch her we should let him have her." He smiled maliciously. "I wonder what StarFox would do to get her back." He placed the box back in the drawer and locked it. He kicked Pigma, who'd started searching under the bed for any lost bit of food that might have ended up there. "Fat, disgusting glutton," he muttered as he left the room. As soon as Leon had seated himself in the rec area with a book Wolf come back looking slightly pissed. Pigma could still be heard rooting around in Wolf's room Wolf grumbled something like a greeting in Leon's direction the stomped off to his room. "PIGMA! My room is not a cafeteria! OUT!" There was a the sound of crashing, then Pigma came waddling out as fast as his pudgy legs would carry him, which wasn't very fast. "He's cranky." Muttered Pigma as he waddled into the kitchenette. "Don't eat all the food, pork chop." Was Leon's reply. Wolf slammed his door and locked it. He sighed deeply then unlocked the drawer and pulled out the box of photos. "Rita, dearest, it won't be long now. I promise." He pulled out the newspaper clipping of her after she got out of the hospital. He touched it gently and ran a finger along the line of her face. "You looked so weak then. It was Fox's fault that you got hurt. He should have died that day. Instead you almost did." he trailed off and picked up another photo. It was the most recent photo he had of her and had been the hardest to come by. A spy had managed to steal it from the photographer (as per Wolf's orders, and Rita's confusion when the photographer told her what had happened). It was a professional photo that showed a head and shoulder pose of Rita resting her head on the back of her hand. She appeared to be gazing out of the photo at him. Her eyes sparkled and a coy smile played on the corners of her mouth. "Beautiful Rita." He touched the photo reverently. Then gently held it to his lips before placing it back in the box with the other photos. Once again he carefully secured the drawer, then he kicked off his boots and curled up on his bed. He pulled his pillow against himself lengthwise and wrapped his arms around it. Imagining that it was his 'love' he stroked the side of it as if it were her back. "Don't worry, dearest, we'll be together soon enough!" He fell asleep cradling the pillow in his arms. His dreams were filled with visions of a flame-haired vixen who was always just out of his reach. Falco had Slippy pinned to the floor. Rita was clinging to Falco's back and Fox had his arms wrapped around her legs. Peppy stood in the doorway laughing so hard that tears were streaming down his cheeks. "I said left hand yellow. Left HAND!" Slippy squeaked. "I hate Twister." Grumbled Falco and Rita in unison. "Remind me again. why are we doing this?" asked Fox untangling himself from Rita's legs. Between laughs Peppy managed an answer. "It helps to build coordination and you learn how to get where you're going without getting in each others' way." He began laughing harder. "We're doomed." muttered Rita getting off Falco's back. Fox sat cross-legged on the floor. "Well, at least that was better than last time. no one got hurt!" "Speak for yourself." Groaned Slippy as Falco peeled him off the floor. "You guys are heavy!" "Tell that to chubby-fuzz-butt over there." Falco made a face at Rita. She crossed her arms and replied cheerfully, "Who wants chicken for dinner!?" "Ooh! Chicken!" Fox' ears perked up. Falco grumbled and pretended to ignore them. They heard a loud thump and turned to see Peppy rolling on the floor in hysterics. "It wasn't that funny." Fox looked up at Rita, who just shrugged. "Me thinks the 'ol boy has gone a wee bit soft in the noodle." Falco used his worst imitation of an Irish accent. Rita patted her stomach. "Noodles? Mmm. I'm getting hungry!" The tall avian groaned. "You're always hungry. It's amazing that you're still such a bean pole." She sniffed in mock indignity. "I use a lot of energy!" Peppy finally managed to pull himself together. "All right! Let's try this again!" he was greeted by a chorus of groans. "Come on now! Pepper wants us to be ready to go in less than a week. We've been lying around too long and have gotten soft. Now let's get moving!" he clapped his hands together. "He's the most unfit one in the entire group. Why isn't he doing anything?"
"That was either Rita or Slippy!" said Peppy in a demanding tone. The two accused pointed at each other. "Oh, nevermind. After this I want twenty laps around the ship, all of you!" Someone grumbles something about 'work-out nazis' and Peppy narrowed his eyed but said nothing. Rita watched Fox as he practiced his roundhouse on a punching bag. She wondered to herself how he still had enough energy after the ludicrous workout Peppy had subjected them too. Fox had removed his shirt earlier and she'd been watching the muscles move under his fur with mild fascination. To most people he didn't look very imposing, but his clothes covered a very well built frame that was muscular but not bulky. Cut, Rita remembered the word Katt had used for it, trim and muscular. She really had to admit he was good looking. Not just good-looking, girls would kill each other to even get the chance to see him like this. Rita smiled to herself. Fox noticed her grinning and stopped what he was doing. "What's so funny?" His voice startled her out of her reverie. "Oh, nothing." her face flushed with her embarrassment. "Just thinking." "'Bout what?' he prompted as he wiped sweat from his forehead. "Stuff." She answered evasively. He walked over to where she was leaning against the wall and placed his hands on either side of her. "Not gonna tell me, huh?" She shook her head. "Maybe I can change your mind." with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes he leaned forward and kissed her softly. She blushed again. "It was stupid really." he cut her off as he kissed her again. Rita felt her stomach flutter. She liked being this close to Fox, but was afraid of the others catching them together like this. She had no idea what any of them would say about this. So far the idea had been a joke for the group, but she doubted that they'd be so light hearted if they found that the joke was real. Her fear come from the fact that she'd been raised by his parents, even though she shared no blood relation with any McCloud. Reluctantly she pulled away from him. "Later." She said quietly. So far their relationship had only progressed past friendship by a few kisses and some intimate words. She knew that sooner or later the question of it going further than that was going to come up. But every time the thought crossed her mind she saw visions of the time Wolf had cornered her in the hanger and had tried to force himself on her. She knew that Fox would never do that, but the terror wouldn't go away. Slippy walked into the Great Fox's small gym. "Oops! Sorry!" he apologized quickly when he saw Fox and Rita so close together. "Didn't mean to. ah. interrupt." Sheepishly he backed out of the room, his embarrassment showing on his face. Fox quickly pulled away from Rita. "It's alright, Slip. Did you need something?" "Oh, yeah. Pepper's on the comm!" called the amphibian as he hurried off down the hall. Cursing softly to himself, Fox found his shirt and a towel. He toweled off some sweat from his back and chest before donning his shirt. Giving Rita one last quick kiss he trotted down the hall towards the bridge. Rita sighed and slumped against the wall. In his dream Wolf had finally caught the flame-haired vixen. Things were just starting to get interesting for him when he heard Andrew's voice somewhere in the background. "Wolf", he whined. "Uncle Andross wants to see you." Wolf's eye popped open then narrowed in disgust. Grumbling he got up and checked his watch. 0200 hours. "2 AM!" he bellowed. He could hear Andrew shuffling around outside his door as if he were trying to decide to run or not. Wolf was a notoriously bad morning person, and it was hard to get much earlier in the morning than 2 am. In a rage Wolf practically ripped the door off its track as it opened. His voice had a hard dangerous edge to it. "What does he want at 2 am?" he gritted the words out between his teeth. Andrew stuttered and crashed into the opposite wall as his legs decided to run away for him without bothering to consult his brain first. Wolf spat out a plethora of colorful epitaphs as he stomped off to see what his insane employer wanted. He found Andross in his throne room hunched over a small table, and giggling like a schoolgirl. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself before he made his presence known. It was usually a bad idea to be in a sour mood around the mad ape. "My liege?" Andross shrieked in laughter at the sound of Wolf's voice. "Look! Look!" he hopped around the table much like an excited hen as he pointed at it. Wolf raised a questioning eyebrow and leaned over to look at the table. On it was a picture of the McCloud family. It was obviously quite dated. Vixy and James held the infant Fox and Rita in their arms. "It's perfect!" crowed Andross. "You lost me." Muttered Wolf. Andross laughed again. "I don't know why I didn't think of this before!" "Think of what, my liege?" Andross was suddenly serious. "Her." He jabbed a finger at the image of the infant Rita. "She's the last thing he has of his family. So, she's not related, but they grew up together." He smiled evilly. "It'll be amusing to see what he does when we capture her. To get her back alive and relatively unharmed I'm certain he'd do almost anything we asked of him." Wolf grinned. He might actually get his chance to be alone with her! "I like this idea." Andross perked up a bit more. "Good! I want you and your boys to capture her. any way that you can. And make sure Fox McCloud knows who has her." "Yes, my liege!" Wolf saluted. "Dismissed." Andross turned back to gloat over the photo as Wolf walked out of the throne room. Rita buzzed into the Air Force base parking lot on her motor bike. Fara sat behind her screaming the whole way. She pulled into a parking space next to where Falco had just parked his motorcycle. Katt was wrapped around him seductively. "Okay. Off." He grumbled at her. She gave a short purr before hopping down.
Fara had finally stopped screaming. "Woo! Let's do that again!" Rita took off her helmet and raised an eyebrow. "That was fun!" Fara beamed. Rita shook her head in amusement as she ran her fingers through her long hair. "You screamed the whole way." "100 miles per hour over the Bay Bridge at rush hour!" "We were only going 90." Fox stood in front of General Pepper's massive desk. The General sighed and steepled his fingers. "They're in position to attack just this side of Venom, but they haven't made any moves yet. They might be waiting for us to make the first move. So far I've instructed my forces not to attack, but if Andross makes a move to attack us they are to defend. I don't want to make the first move, if I did then we'll have started another war." "I understand." Said Fox. "However," continued the General, "I would like a team to get in as close as they can and see if they can tell if anything is going on over there." He leaned forward. "Do you have anyone in your group who could pull off something like that without setting off a war?" Fox wrinkled his brow. "Well. Rita used to spy for you during the first war. And Katt's pretty good at sneaking into places undetected." Pepper thought about this for a moment. "Alright, we'll see if those two can do it. and send Fara with them." Fox winced. Fara was anything but subtle, in fact she usually got into more trouble than Falco due to charging into a situation head first without knowing what she was getting into. He had to admit, though, that she'd been better about that lately. "Yes, sir." Fox saluted. "Good. And I want the rest of your team to stay on the front line of our forces just in case they ladies accidentally provoke Andross's forces." With that Pepper dismissed him. The rest of the StarFox team, Fara, and Katt were waiting outside of Pepper's office. "So what's the new, O' fearless leader?" questioned Falco as Fox exited the office. Fox sighed and briefly laid his ears back before bringing them upright again. "He wants the girls to run recon in the enemy forces to see if they can figure out what they're waiting for or tell what they're doing. The rest of us are to sit on the front lines in case they decide to attack our forces." Katt frowned. "Wait a minute. GIRLS run recon? You mean the three of us?" she pointed at Fara. Fox nodded and Katt groaned. "Did you happen to mention to the General that recon usually requires being sneaky?" she but emphasis on the word 'sneaky'. "Hey!" Fara crossed her arms. "I'm not that bad!" "You're about as subtle as a bull in a china shop." Stated Rita. "Look who's talking!" "At least I know when not to charge in with my lasers blazing!" The two vixens continued to squabble. "They're doing it again." groaned Slippy. Katt broke in. "Hey, girls! We've got some time before we have to do anything, so let's go shopping!" They glared back at her. "We're in the middle of something here!" snapped Fara. She turned back to Rita only to find her walking toward the exit. "Jya, ne!" Rita waved as she left. "Hey! Come back here!" Fara followed her out. Falco elbowed Fox. "Least Ri knows when to quit." "I don't like sending Fara with them. Sure, she's a great pilot, but recon and subility just are not her strong points." Fox crossed his arms and sighed. "I think you're just worried about Rita getting hurt." Said Peppy matter of factly. Fox sputtered then composed himself. "I've known her all my life! Of course I'm worried about her getting hurt!" Slippy nudged Peppy and gave him a 'told you so' look. Katt giggled then said, "You're kids are going to be so cute!" "Kids? What kids?" Fox looked momentarily panicked. "Yeah! What kids?" Rita's voice came from behind Fox. No one had seen her come back in. "The kids that the two of you are going to have!" Katt chirped, grinning ear to ear. Rita blushed bright red and Fox tried to look non-chalant. "News flash, Pinky, " Rita used one of Katt's least favorite nicknames, ".that would require the two of us actually having sex." She whispered loudly so everyone could hear. Fox turned a bright shade of crimson at the word 'sex'. "And we haven't." she finished then nodded as if she'd just passed on a great nugget of knowledge to her mis-informed friend. Katt turned a bit more pink then giggled. "That doesn't mean you won't!" then she ran as Rita lunged at her. General Pepper's laugh rang through the hallway. He'd been watching the entire time. Peppy sighed almost wistfully, "Ah, young love." Wolf and the rest of the StarWolf team sat in their fighters just behind the front lines of the Androssian forces. Wolf was watching all around intently. A spy working for Andross had gotten wind of the Cornerians plans to send the female portion of StarFox on a recon mission through the ranks where StarWolf was now waiting for them. All they had to do was wait for them to show up and give themselves away. then Rita would be his! The one-eyed lupine smiled smugly to himself as he thought of the things he would do with her once he had her safely behind closed doors. A flicker of movement in the corner of his eye brought his attention back to the situation at hand. He turned to look in the direction of the movement, but whatever it had been was gone now. He keyed his comm. "Leon, did you see something in sector three a moment ago?" Leon answered back almost immediately, "It looked like a fighter painted black. I caught a brief glimpse of a glint off the cockpit window." Wolf grinned. "I'm going to go check it out. The rest of you keep an eye our for anything else." Pigma snickered at Wolf's use of the phase 'keep an eye out'. He guided his Wolfen to 'sector three' which was really just the debris of and asteroid that had impacted with something much bigger eons ago. Carefully he scanned the area as he deftly maneuvered around the floating rocks. One by one he switched through his comm channels to see if he could pick up anything other than his own forces. On one channel he though he briefly heard a sigh. It sounded female, but he couldn't be sure. He left his comm on that channel and listened. Suddenly he realized that he could faintly hear someone talking. He switched the channel a fraction and it became clearer. ". stay hidden until you can make a run for it. Katt and I will join up later." Wolf grinned broadly as he recognized Rita's voice. It had gotten deeper and more feminine since he'd last heard it. Then he saw it. A black arwing was riding next to a large chunk of asteroid, doing a very good job of being inconspicuous. It only took him a second to realize that this must be Fara Phoenix's ship. "I think he found me." Came Fara's voice over the comm, confirming his ascertains. "He hasn't moved in a few minutes." "Wait a few more seconds to make sure then run." Rita sounded tense. "I'm on my way if you need some backup." Wolf chose that moment to open fire. Fara's arwing immediately came to life and she expertly dodged his shot, coming perilously close to some of the rocks in the process. He hadn't realized that Katt and Rita had been so close until a silver arwing with black g-diffusers buzzed past him and landed a few shots along the nose of his Wolfen. His prey had taken the bait. Almost immediately he pulled away from Fara's ship and went after the new arwing. A pink arwing was on top of him almost instantly. "GO! Get out of here!" Rita yelled over the comm as she and Wolf played cat and mouse among the debris. "Like Hell!" Katt shrieked back. "I'm not leaving you alone with HIM!" As Wolf chased Rita, Katt chased Wolf. Only when Fara screamed over the channel did Katt reluctantly pull away. The rest of StarWolf was giving the fennec vixen a run for her money. It was soon apparent that they were trying to chase Katt and Fara off. "GET OUT OF HERE!" Rita demanded again, then softly she added, "I'll be alright." "Dammit, Ri!" Katt half sobbed as she and Fara were forced to retreat. When her two teammates were safely out of range Rita powered down her ship and drifted. "I know you're listening, O'Donnell." She sounded calm. "Are you going to tell me what you want?" Wolf coasted beside her, but he stayed powered up. He laughed softly over the comm. "You." He saw her through her cockpit window, she gripped the flight controls tightly and had her eyes closed. After a few moments she answered. "I suppose I don't have much of choice, eh? If I run, your teammates'll just disable my ship." She glared at him through the canopy. Wolf was almost giddy with pleasure. He had her trapped and she either had to give up or they'd take her forcefully. A ragged sigh came over the comm. "You win. this time." Katt and Fara had just finished explaining the failed mission to Fox and were sobbing. Fox pounded on the wall in frustration, nearly putting his fist through the wall at one point. "Incoming transmission." ROB's voice echoed through the Great Fox. "Dammit!" Fox swore as he keyed the comm. His face darkened with hatred as Andross's face appeared on the screen. "Greetings, young McCloud!" he gloated. "By now you've probably heard that you're missing something. " He beamed. Somewhere in the background a woman yelled 'get your fat hands off of me, bacon-butt' then Rita was dragged in front of the comm. She was bound hand and foot and was held captive between Leon and Wolf. "Sorry, Fox! I'm sorry!" she managed to say before they hauled her off screen again. Andross's face returned and he looked overly pleased at the murderous look on Fox's face. "She hasn't been hurt. yet! But you'd better watch you step if you want to make sure she remains unharmed. Each time you make a move against me or my forces you'll get part of her back. but it won't be attached to the rest of her!" He cackled evilly then the connection went dead. Fox ripped a light fixture off the wall and threw it at the screen. He screamed in rage. Everyone stood back from him, slightly afraid of what he'd do. He turned to Fara and Katt who were clinging to each other and crying harder than before. "You left her there! YOU!" his voice was high pitched and tense with rage and grief. Fara sank down to the floor and clutched at Katt's knees. Katt had her fingers stuffed in her mouth as tears poured down her cheeks leaving dark trails in her fur. "You just RAN AWAY and LEFT HER!" he punched a hole in the wall and stormed out of the room. Peppy knelt down to comfort Fara as Falco tried to calm Katt down. "He doesn't mean it. He just doesn't know how to deal with this." Falco hugged Katt close to his chest as she sobbed. Peppy cradled Fara like a child and rocked her back and forth. Slippy watched the screen with a feeling of total helplessness. "I've never seen him like this." he said softly. "Not even when she took that bullet in the chest." He trailed off and looked down at his hands mildly surprised when tears started to fall from his cheeks onto them. They roughly escorted Rita down to a block of cells. It was surprisingly clean and bright, for a cellblock. She'd found herself shoved into a cell by herself. Wolf had stayed a while longer than the others and had promised to come back so they could 'get to know each other better'. She knew what he meant by that, and she wasn't looking forward to it. She found that she could look directly into the cell across from her own. Its inhabitant was a middle-aged fox who looked weak and seriously malnourished. He looked familiar, but he kept his head down and his face hidden so she couldn't be sure. Once a guard came in and threw a bowl of some evil looking slop into her cell. "LaShette, right?" he grinned a toothless grin at her. She refused to acknowledge his presence and he finally went away. But she'd seen the other prisoner lift his head and look at her briefly when her name had been said. The guard had been standing in the way so she hadn't gotten a clear look at him. When he was sure the guard was gone the prisoner inched closer to the door of his cell. Rita realized that he wasn't as weak as she'd originally thought. His prison garb just covered his malnourished frame. She guessed that if he'd been fed properly he'd be built like Fox. Fox! That's who he reminds me of! She realized that he was watching her watch him. "It's not polite to stare, Rita." His voice was strong and deep. She was on her feet instantly, knocking over the bowl of slime in the process. "DAD!?" Fox had rampaged around the Great Fox for a good hour. Eventually he found himself in Rita's room, curled up on her bed with one of her pillows clutched tightly to his chest. The faint smell of her perfume lingered on it and it helped to sooth his rage somewhat. It was a light scent, not quite floral. He couldn't figure out what it smelled like, but it made him think of fresh laundry and flowers. More than anything it made him think of Rita. He didn't know what to do. Rita was the last piece of his family that he had left, not counting Peppy, but that was different. But was saving the person he loved the most just reason to let millions suffer? He struggled with himself. He loved Rita dearly and didn't want anything to happen to her, but how could he just stand by and watch Andross destroy the lives of millions of innocent people? He knew he couldn't let that happen. And he cried as he felt that Rita's death would be on his hands. "I'm sorry, Ri." He cried into her pillow. "I love you more than anything. But I can't let Andross win and harm all the other people in Lylat. He has me trapped, either you die or many others will. Why did this have to happen?" Tears ran freely down his muzzle and soaked into the pillow. "And why didn't I have to courage to tell you that I loved you when you were here." The door opened quietly. Peppy softly cleared his throat. When he knew that Fox was listening he said, "General Pepper is on the comm. He says that since StarWolf open fired on our pilots first that we can mount a counter- attack." he trailed off and looked at Fox to see what the young leader would say. Fox sat up still clutching the pillow. Softly he said, "I'm about to kill the best friend I ever had." He took a deep breath then slowly let it out. "Andross has now killed the three people I loved the most. He's going to pay dearly." Rita pressed her face against the bars of her cell. James leaned against the bars of his as they talked. "We thought you were dead!" Rita sobbed. He sighed. "Apparently Andross has forgotten about me. Though there have been many times when I had wished to be dead." He trailed off when he saw the agonized look on her face. Briefly she explained how she'd been captured. "But I don't know why they wanted me." She finished, "Unless they're trying to use me as bait of some sort. But if that's their plan then why didn't they try to capture Katt and Fara too?" James thought for a moment. "I don't know." He finally answered. "But I don't like the way that O'Donnell fellow keeps looking at you." She looked at the floor the quietly told him about the time Wolf had tried to rape her in the Academy. James was furious. He slammed his fists against the bars. "If I ever get my hands on that disgusting low-life." he seethed.
Rita twirled her necklace between her fingers. James saw it catch the light. "You still have that?" He asked staring at the gift he'd given her for her sixteenth birthday. "Of course. I've hardly been anywhere without it since you gave it to me." She looked at the ring shaped pendant. There were signs of wear from where she touched it often, and the chain had been replaced a year ago when the old one had finally snapped. She still had the broken chain; it was stored in a safe corner of her jewelry box. James sighed. "You've grown up so much. The last time I saw you, you were all pigtails, curls and bouncy ball of giggles. Now you're a mature woman." He stared at his knees and sighed again. "I've missed so much." Rita smiled, "Falco told me that when people tell a girl she's grown up a lot that what they really mean is 'gee your boobs have gotten big'!" He nearly choked then started laughing. "Ha! Made you laugh!" He smiled at her. "Gotta make the best of a bad situation, eh?" She nodded. "That's what you always told me to do." "So I did." Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Wolf. Blaster in hand he opened Rita's cell. James lunged against the bars of his cell, but a guard quickly sedated him with a stun gun. Wolf grabbed her wrist and yanked her off down the hall, despite her struggles. "Andross wants to see you." Was his only explanation. Within a matter of minutes she found herself face to face with the mad scientist. He gloated over his captive. "I've got something to show you!" he crowed. "ATTILA!" he bellowed. Rita blinked and rubbed her eyes as she watched herself walk into the room. Attila stopped a few feet in front of Rita. "Not too bad for only a few hours work, no?" Andross ran a hand down Attila's jawline. "Meet Attila. She an android copy of yourself." He pinched her arm and a red spot appeared. "Made ever more realistic with the addition of real skin, fur, and even blood!" He beamed proudly. Rita felt sick. Wolf stared at the android wide-eyed. Andross seized Rita's arm. "All that's needed now is for us to give her some of your personality." She decided she'd had enough of this horrid nightmare, so she fainted. Wolf caught her before she hit the floor. Andross just shrugged. "It'll be easier this way anyhow." Deftly he hooked Attila to a strange device via a cable. To the other side he strapped the unconscious Rita to a chair and connected some wires to her forehead and temples. "This won't hurt a bit!" He flipped a switch on the device. Wolf didn't notice anything happening until Attila cried out. Andross flipped the switch back then undid Attila's cable. A soft moan escaped from Rita. "Take that one back to her cell, O'Donnell." Wolf pulled the wires from her head and unstrapped her from the chair. He picked her up and carried her out of the lab. "And make sure she gets back to her cell with NO DETOURS!" Andross yelled after him. Wolf grumbled, but obeyed. He'd have his chance soon enough. Attila fell to her knees in front of Andross. "Unnh." she groaned. He voice was Rita's but pitched a bit higher. "How." she looked around "did I get here?" Andross frowned. He'd expected her to just pick up some of Rita's quirks to enable her to fool the StarFox team long enough for him to annihilate them. He hadn't expected her original programming to get overwritten. He sighed. There were ways around that problem; at least if she thought she was Rita she'd be convincing. She spotted Andross and screamed. "You killed Dad!" she accused then flung herself at him attempting to gouge out his eyes. Two guards rushed in and pulled her off him. He grinned. She thought she was Rita at about the age of sixteen. The he laughed. Attila started to cry. "Perfect!" he shouted. This was going to be fun after all. Andross beamed down at the hysterically sobbing Attila. Wolf sat in a chair glowering at him. "Oh, come on now, Wolf! You got a chance with Rita in bed, and now we have the perfect thing to torture the young McCloud with!" "It's not the same." He grumbled as a response. He'd enjoyed it at the time, but he couldn't forget the fact that it hadn't been Rita, not really anyway. "I can't wait to see his face when he finds out his darling little friend has been raped by you. Of course he'll never know that the real Rita is safely secured in a cell here." He lowered his voice, "And if you're more useful this time than you were the last time you went against StarFox, I might let you have her as a sign of gratitude." Rita thought her head was going to explode. She had no idea how long she'd been lying on the floor of her cell, but her head felt like it had been pounding for ages. Slowly it dawned on her that someone was calling to her. "RITA!" James was futilely reaching through the bars toward her. He sounded panicked. She could only respond by groaning softly as she tried unsuccessfully to sit up. It felt like the annual Cornerian Holiday Parade was marching across her skull so she just rolled onto her back then lay as still as she could. "Rita?" James called to her softly clutching at the bars. "Can you hear me? Rita?" She groaned in response, which was about all she could do. James talked to her for a while as her head slowly stopped aching. After a while she was able to respond to his questions with brief answers, though it still was nearly impossible for her to move. "What did that egomaniacal bastard do to you?" James demanded. Rita had finally managed to pull herself up onto the narrow bunk. "I don't remember. that last thing I saw was, well. me. But it wasn't really me. I don't think." She faltered as she tried to explain what she'd seen. "It was an android made to look just like me. But I don't know why." James frowned. "Fox." She started and nearly fell off the bunk. "But why?" "He's sadistic, Ri, he'll do anything to hurt anyone or anything connected to me." She thought she saw a tear run down his cheek. "He killed Vixy. The bomb was meant for me. He just couldn't stand it that she was my wife and that she loved me and not him." A few more tears fell from his eyes. "And now he's using you to hurt Fox just because Fox is my son, and he can't stand the fact that Vixy had my child. He told me that when he captured me. He said that he hadn't wanted to hurt Vixy in any way, but that me and my 'spawn' had to die for keeping her away from him." James lowered his face to his knees. "Oh, daddy." breathed Rita close to tears. Andross laughed to himself as he thought of the agony that he would cause Fox when he put Attila into action. The he laughed again as he thought of what Wolf would do to Rita when he finally let the one-eyed lupine have her. The young vixen's agony would be much more intense if he let Wolf's appetite go un-fed for a while. He wanted to hurt and destroy anything and everything that was connected to James McCloud. I did kill him, didn't I? Ah, well, wherever he is he's suffering greatly, thought the mad ape. He chuckled again as he keyed open a series of locks to the most private area of his lab. The interior of the room was kept dark except for the glow of bluish light coming from a large stasis tube in the center. The lighting design of the room didn't really serve and real purpose; Andross just liked that it gave the room that "creepy sci-fi flick" atmosphere. Floating in the transparent liquid of the stasis tube was Andross's most prized creation or re-creation as the case was. It was a cloned body, empty of a soul or personality and not quite alive yet. But he was going to change that soon. In a few more days his "on-staff" mystic, Ayamori, would have the ritual to call a soul into the body complete. It wasn't going to be just any soul either. He was going to resurrect Vixy Reinard. It was a shame that Aya's wife, Yuki, had hidden or killed their daughter the day she was born twenty years ago. Andross had run a pre-natal exam on Yuki and determined that the child would be far more powerful than both of her parents combined. She could have done the ritual in an instant and Andross wouldn't have had to wait. But there wasn't anything he could do about that. He'd toyed with the idea of having Rita in the room as the ceremony was preformed because he'd heard rumors that she'd shown signs of premonition and psychic tendencies. But he knew she'd probably cause more trouble than having the extra power in the room was worth. He gazed at his creation. It was the body of a beautiful vixen; blonde haired and hazel eyed. An exact copy of the original Vixy, created from a few strands of her hair he'd collected from her corpse at the morgue. He stroked the glass affectionately. This would be his final insult to the name of James McCloud. Ayamori Shea stomped around the living quarters he shared with his wife, Yuki, and four-year-old daughter, Morrigan. "I can't believe this!" He half- shrieked at his wife. "If you hadn't felt the inane need to play the saint and hide our daughter then we'd be all done with this by now!" Yuki hugged Morrigan tightly to her breast. "You don't know that." She countered. "You weren't entirely sure that she would've had any power, let alone more than you and I!" "BUT SHE MIGHT HAVE BEEN! Even if she wasn't all that powerful she would've still been a major help to me." He clutched his fists tightly as he explained. "Every little bit helps, I suppose you've heard that phrase before, haven't you, dearest?" he let out a short laugh at the use of his favorite nickname for her. The joke to him was that they despised each other with a passion. "She's not dead, and you know that." Yuki's voice was barely above a whisper. Aya laughed again. "I know that. but I can't find her! And she's missed several valuable years of training and instruction! If she hasn't had any help she'll be completely useless." He continued to rant on into the early hours of the morning. Yuki was to terrified to leave his presence and Morrigan finally fell asleep in her mother's arms. Rita's dreams were troubling. She hadn't really slept well since her capture, but this night was the worst because she could not wake up and end the nightmares. She saw Vixy next to her, silently pleading for help. But her voice wasn't audible and Rita didn't know what she was asking for. Around the two vixens macabre images swirled like a thick mist. Again and again she saw Andross's decapitated and laughing head followed by nightmare images of Wolf brutally raping her. She shuddered and hoped that it wasn't a portent of things to come. So far she'd managed to thwart all of his attempts at forcing himself on her, and she didn't plan to let him in the future either. More scenes flashed past them. She saw Fox and cringed. He knelt in front of a dark throne; her body was draped on the steps going up to the throne like a rag doll. Somewhere Andross was laughing. Finally she saw James lying lifeless on the floor with Vixy clinging to him and crying on his chest. The Vixy that stood beside her jerked her arm and pointed at the vision desperately. Rita blinked at the impossible scene. Dad's still alive and Mom died years ago. this is impossible! Why can't I wake up!? All the visions swirled about them faster and faster. Vixy vanished and Andross's laughter boomed around her. She felt something at her feet, and looked down. Andross's head grinned back up at her. James jerked awake as Rita's screams echoed through the cellblock. Several guards rushed into the vicinity then left grumpily when they realized that it had been the result of nightmares. Rita spent the rest of the night with her knees tucked up to her chin wrapped in her one ratty blanket. James talked to her about various things hoping to distract her so she could finally get some restful sleep. The android Attila had been put in a separate cellblock from James and Rita. She lay in a ball on the floor sobbing endlessly. After Wolf's abuse of her Andross had given the guards permission to use her in any way they liked. He giggled to himself at the agony he knew her fragile mental state would cause Fox. And he laughed as he imagined Fox's reaction when he heard about the abuse she'd been through. Now all he had to do was find a way for her to get to StarFox without it seeming too obvious. Attila still thought she was Rita, although if someone had observed her for a long enough period of time they would have noticed several differences in mannerisms between the original and the copy. And Attila wanted to die. To Be Continued.
By: Rita LaShette (Kyla DeYoung) The mist swirled. It enveloped Rita in its gauzy deep embrace. She stood perfectly still, not wanting to take a wrong step and end up with a broken leg, or worse. How did I get here? She started, as her thoughts seemed to echo in the air around her. She remembered the feeling she was having. She'd felt if before she was sure. How did I get here!? Her thought was more panicked. I'm only asleep! This is just a dream! She told herself not really sure if she believed it or not. The mist swirled faster and Rita could have sworn that she felt it grab at her legs. A soft taunting giggle echoed through the thick mist. A whisper followed the giggle, but its words were indistinguishable. Rita strained to her ears to listen, but still couldn't make out the words. She thought that maybe she'd heard a second voice whispering with the first. Carefully she tried to remember what she'd been doing before she'd found herself in this strange misty place. Fox was talking. What was he talking about? General Pepper! Right! Andross. I remember Andross had gathered more forces and was getting ready to attack again. And Pepper needed us to help defend Lylat! Then. what happened after that? I don't remember. The voices escalated into a loud wild gibbering. Their words still made no sense. Then they started laughing in high shrill screams. Rita's skin crawled at the sound of it and some of her fur stood out on end. Peppy watched Rita sleeping on the rec room couch. He sensed that she was troubled, but it seemed faint and distant. Fox leaned over and scratched her ears when a slightly troubled look came over her face. Then he went back to playing vid-games against Falco and Slippy. Something rubbed against Rita's ears. It didn't feel hostile; in fact it felt a bit comforting. The shrieking laughter continued and she was forced to cover her ears. Then one of the voices spoke so she could understand what it said, "Poor little girl!" it mocked, "Afraid and alone! All alone!" "Hope the boogey man doesn't get her!" the other voice piped in. "Run away little girl before the boogey man comes!" At that precise moment an object sailed over her head and landed at her feet. The mist pulled back a bit and she found herself staring down at Andross's severed head. Rita fought back the sudden overwhelming urge to gag. Then the head moved and stared back up at her grinning. She screamed and backed away quickly. Her backward progress was abruptly halted when a pair of arms closed around her, one hand clamped down on her muzzle and cut off her screams. "The boogey man has got you now!" chanted the first voice. "That's not the boogey man!" said the second, "but he's probably just as bad!" Both voices started their shrieking laughter again. "Hello, love." Wolf O'Donnell's voice said in her ear. The hand that didn't have a grip on her muzzle began to wander about her body. Rita struggled harder to get away, but she only seemed to become more entangled in Wolf's embrace. "Soon, love, soon!" he whispered. Then he released her and she felt like she was falling. Around her the scene vanished into darkness. Rita sat upright on the couch suddenly and screamed. Fox was beside her in less than an instant, asking her questions in rapid succession. "Geez, Fox! Give her a little room to breathe!" Slippy suggested. Rita flopped back down and sighed. "It was just a bad dream. No need to get worked up about it!" she laughed half-heartedly. It had felt so real to her, and the image of Andross's severed head still burned bright in her mind. As did the feel of Wolf's hands touching her body. She shivered. "Okay, If you say so." Fox leaned over and kissed her forehead gently. Falco snickered, "Why don't you two get a room?" He ducked just as one of the couch cushions sailed over his head. Peppy quietly snuck out of the room as a full-scale pillow fight began. Thirty minutes or so later the rec room looked as if a tornado had run through it and jumped up and down on things a few times, then just for good measure, kicked all the furniture. But, of course, there aren't any tornadoes in the middle of space, so they blamed it on Falco. Rita lay in bed with the covers tucked up tightly under her chin. She stared at the ceiling of her room waiting for sleep to come. Realizing that she probably wouldn't get any sleep that night she rolled over and sighed softly. The room was completely dark except for a small sliver of light the came from under the door, where it didn't fit correctly in it's sliding track anymore. She made a mental note to ask Slippy if he could do anything about it. The dream vision she'd had earlier still haunted her. She'd taken an extra long shower before going to bed and had scrubbed at her body where she swore she could still feel Wolf's touch. Half of the fur on certain parts of her body had been scrubbed off before Falco got impatient and turned off the hot water connection to the bathroom. He'd gotten his beak tweaked for that. Shivering again from her thoughts, she quietly got out of bed and padded down the hall to Fox's room. She peeked in and found him fast asleep with half of the covers thrown off the bed. The door closed almost silently behind her, only making a soft whooshing noise. Rita picked up a blanket from the floor where it had been tossed off the bed and wrapped up in it, as her short nightdress wasn't very warm. Carefully she curled up on the bed next to Fox, trying not to wake him. He groaned softly. "Ri?" he mumbled. Damn, she thought. "'S me." She answered out loud. "Couldn't sleep." "Mmm." he trailed off and his breathing got deeper. He'd fallen asleep again. "Hold me, I'm scared." She said in a barely audible voice. She didn't expect him to respond, she just felt better saying it. Fox mumbled something in his sleep, then rolled over and put an arm around her. Rita snuggled in closer. He probably didn't mean to, but I'm going to take advantage of this while I can, she thought as she slowly drifted closer to the edges of sleep. She almost swore she'd heard him say 'I love you' as she drifted off to sleep, but later decided that she'd been dreaming already. When she woke the next morning Fox was already gone. He had tucked his comforter around her so she wouldn't get cold before he left. The door to the room opened as she rolled over. Fox walked in wrapped in a towel and using another to dry his hair. " 'S about time you woke up!" He said cheerfully. "Peppy's almost got breakfast ready." He rifled through his closet looking for clothes. Finally locating his pants he turned back to face her. "You going to go or are you going to sit there and watch me get dressed?" Rita grinned and twirled a piece of her hair through her fingers. "Given the choice I think I'll stay and watch." He blushed and sputtered something. Then a mischievous grin spread across his face. "If you say so." The next thing she knew there was a towel over her face. By the time she got untangled from it Fox already had his boxers on and had just pulled his pants up. She got out of bed and headed for the door, making sure to grab Fox's behind before running at top speed down the hall. She yelled something as she bolted past the kitchen. "What'd she say?" Slippy inquired. "Sounded like 'I was in the same room with a naked man'". Falco answered between mouthfuls just as Fox ran past in pursuit of the flame-haired vixen. Fox yelled as he chased her. "I know why they call you vixens now! Just wait'll I catch you!" a few seconds later there was a loud laugh then the sound of some metal objects hitting the floor in a loud crash. Fox strolled back into the kitchen with Rita draped over his neck like a scarf. He held one of her arms in one hand and her leg in the other. Her nightdress had adjusted itself around her hips and she was unsuccessfully using her free hand to pull it into a more modest position. "What's for breakfast?" "Nice underwear, Rita!" snickered Falco. "Shut up, bird-boy." "O'DONNELL!" Andross's voice thundered through the base. "GET DOWN HERE NOW!" The shouts echoed off the walls for a few seconds then died away. Wolf carefully folded a photo cut from an old newspaper and placed it in a small box, which was in turn securely put in a locked drawer. He sighed. "I wonder if he's ever even thought of using an intercom system or a comm unit of some sort." Reluctantly he made sure the drawer was locked the plodded out of his room to see what Andross wanted this time. Leon and Pigma watched him leave, then ran into his room. "Where'd he put it?" Pigma's voice screeched. Leon narrowed his eyes at his teammate the produced a lock-pick kit from his shirt. Selecting one of the tools he deftly opened the lock on the drawer that Wolf had placed the box in. Within seconds they had the box open and were perusing it's contents. "Why is he so protective of all these photos and old newspaper clippings?" Pigma sounded bored. "Stupid mutton-chop!" hissed Leon. "They're all pictures of the same person!" he waved a small photo that had been cut from a yearbook under the fat swine's nose. Pigma angrily snatched the picture from Leon. Leon could almost see the light come on in the dim recesses of Pigma's head when he realized who was in the photo. Pigma began to laugh in his high-pitched porcine laugh. "Her!" he squealed. "All these pictures are of her!" "Apparently he's got quite an obsession with her." Leon said as he dug a photo out of the pile. "And has had it for quite some time." He held up the photo so Pigma could see it. It was a picture of Rita at about the age of 14. She was sitting at a desk hunched over some indistinguishable homework. Her Academy uniform was wrinkled and it looked as if she'd been sitting there for quite a while. The photo had been taken through a window. Another was a picture of Rita cut out of a newspaper. She was sitting on a bench in what was probably a flower garden. A light colored sundress hung down to her ankles and she look very pale. The caption under the picture read: "LaShette shortly after being released from hospital, where she spent extensive time in recovery for a gun shot wound." Pigma laughed at the newspaper photo. "What a deceiving picture! She's not that calm or pretty!" He squealed in mirth. Leon ruffled through a few more photos then stashed them back in the box. "If we ever catch her we should let him have her." He smiled maliciously. "I wonder what StarFox would do to get her back." He placed the box back in the drawer and locked it. He kicked Pigma, who'd started searching under the bed for any lost bit of food that might have ended up there. "Fat, disgusting glutton," he muttered as he left the room. As soon as Leon had seated himself in the rec area with a book Wolf come back looking slightly pissed. Pigma could still be heard rooting around in Wolf's room Wolf grumbled something like a greeting in Leon's direction the stomped off to his room. "PIGMA! My room is not a cafeteria! OUT!" There was a the sound of crashing, then Pigma came waddling out as fast as his pudgy legs would carry him, which wasn't very fast. "He's cranky." Muttered Pigma as he waddled into the kitchenette. "Don't eat all the food, pork chop." Was Leon's reply. Wolf slammed his door and locked it. He sighed deeply then unlocked the drawer and pulled out the box of photos. "Rita, dearest, it won't be long now. I promise." He pulled out the newspaper clipping of her after she got out of the hospital. He touched it gently and ran a finger along the line of her face. "You looked so weak then. It was Fox's fault that you got hurt. He should have died that day. Instead you almost did." he trailed off and picked up another photo. It was the most recent photo he had of her and had been the hardest to come by. A spy had managed to steal it from the photographer (as per Wolf's orders, and Rita's confusion when the photographer told her what had happened). It was a professional photo that showed a head and shoulder pose of Rita resting her head on the back of her hand. She appeared to be gazing out of the photo at him. Her eyes sparkled and a coy smile played on the corners of her mouth. "Beautiful Rita." He touched the photo reverently. Then gently held it to his lips before placing it back in the box with the other photos. Once again he carefully secured the drawer, then he kicked off his boots and curled up on his bed. He pulled his pillow against himself lengthwise and wrapped his arms around it. Imagining that it was his 'love' he stroked the side of it as if it were her back. "Don't worry, dearest, we'll be together soon enough!" He fell asleep cradling the pillow in his arms. His dreams were filled with visions of a flame-haired vixen who was always just out of his reach. Falco had Slippy pinned to the floor. Rita was clinging to Falco's back and Fox had his arms wrapped around her legs. Peppy stood in the doorway laughing so hard that tears were streaming down his cheeks. "I said left hand yellow. Left HAND!" Slippy squeaked. "I hate Twister." Grumbled Falco and Rita in unison. "Remind me again. why are we doing this?" asked Fox untangling himself from Rita's legs. Between laughs Peppy managed an answer. "It helps to build coordination and you learn how to get where you're going without getting in each others' way." He began laughing harder. "We're doomed." muttered Rita getting off Falco's back. Fox sat cross-legged on the floor. "Well, at least that was better than last time. no one got hurt!" "Speak for yourself." Groaned Slippy as Falco peeled him off the floor. "You guys are heavy!" "Tell that to chubby-fuzz-butt over there." Falco made a face at Rita. She crossed her arms and replied cheerfully, "Who wants chicken for dinner!?" "Ooh! Chicken!" Fox' ears perked up. Falco grumbled and pretended to ignore them. They heard a loud thump and turned to see Peppy rolling on the floor in hysterics. "It wasn't that funny." Fox looked up at Rita, who just shrugged. "Me thinks the 'ol boy has gone a wee bit soft in the noodle." Falco used his worst imitation of an Irish accent. Rita patted her stomach. "Noodles? Mmm. I'm getting hungry!" The tall avian groaned. "You're always hungry. It's amazing that you're still such a bean pole." She sniffed in mock indignity. "I use a lot of energy!" Peppy finally managed to pull himself together. "All right! Let's try this again!" he was greeted by a chorus of groans. "Come on now! Pepper wants us to be ready to go in less than a week. We've been lying around too long and have gotten soft. Now let's get moving!" he clapped his hands together. "He's the most unfit one in the entire group. Why isn't he doing anything?"
"That was either Rita or Slippy!" said Peppy in a demanding tone. The two accused pointed at each other. "Oh, nevermind. After this I want twenty laps around the ship, all of you!" Someone grumbles something about 'work-out nazis' and Peppy narrowed his eyed but said nothing. Rita watched Fox as he practiced his roundhouse on a punching bag. She wondered to herself how he still had enough energy after the ludicrous workout Peppy had subjected them too. Fox had removed his shirt earlier and she'd been watching the muscles move under his fur with mild fascination. To most people he didn't look very imposing, but his clothes covered a very well built frame that was muscular but not bulky. Cut, Rita remembered the word Katt had used for it, trim and muscular. She really had to admit he was good looking. Not just good-looking, girls would kill each other to even get the chance to see him like this. Rita smiled to herself. Fox noticed her grinning and stopped what he was doing. "What's so funny?" His voice startled her out of her reverie. "Oh, nothing." her face flushed with her embarrassment. "Just thinking." "'Bout what?' he prompted as he wiped sweat from his forehead. "Stuff." She answered evasively. He walked over to where she was leaning against the wall and placed his hands on either side of her. "Not gonna tell me, huh?" She shook her head. "Maybe I can change your mind." with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes he leaned forward and kissed her softly. She blushed again. "It was stupid really." he cut her off as he kissed her again. Rita felt her stomach flutter. She liked being this close to Fox, but was afraid of the others catching them together like this. She had no idea what any of them would say about this. So far the idea had been a joke for the group, but she doubted that they'd be so light hearted if they found that the joke was real. Her fear come from the fact that she'd been raised by his parents, even though she shared no blood relation with any McCloud. Reluctantly she pulled away from him. "Later." She said quietly. So far their relationship had only progressed past friendship by a few kisses and some intimate words. She knew that sooner or later the question of it going further than that was going to come up. But every time the thought crossed her mind she saw visions of the time Wolf had cornered her in the hanger and had tried to force himself on her. She knew that Fox would never do that, but the terror wouldn't go away. Slippy walked into the Great Fox's small gym. "Oops! Sorry!" he apologized quickly when he saw Fox and Rita so close together. "Didn't mean to. ah. interrupt." Sheepishly he backed out of the room, his embarrassment showing on his face. Fox quickly pulled away from Rita. "It's alright, Slip. Did you need something?" "Oh, yeah. Pepper's on the comm!" called the amphibian as he hurried off down the hall. Cursing softly to himself, Fox found his shirt and a towel. He toweled off some sweat from his back and chest before donning his shirt. Giving Rita one last quick kiss he trotted down the hall towards the bridge. Rita sighed and slumped against the wall. In his dream Wolf had finally caught the flame-haired vixen. Things were just starting to get interesting for him when he heard Andrew's voice somewhere in the background. "Wolf", he whined. "Uncle Andross wants to see you." Wolf's eye popped open then narrowed in disgust. Grumbling he got up and checked his watch. 0200 hours. "2 AM!" he bellowed. He could hear Andrew shuffling around outside his door as if he were trying to decide to run or not. Wolf was a notoriously bad morning person, and it was hard to get much earlier in the morning than 2 am. In a rage Wolf practically ripped the door off its track as it opened. His voice had a hard dangerous edge to it. "What does he want at 2 am?" he gritted the words out between his teeth. Andrew stuttered and crashed into the opposite wall as his legs decided to run away for him without bothering to consult his brain first. Wolf spat out a plethora of colorful epitaphs as he stomped off to see what his insane employer wanted. He found Andross in his throne room hunched over a small table, and giggling like a schoolgirl. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself before he made his presence known. It was usually a bad idea to be in a sour mood around the mad ape. "My liege?" Andross shrieked in laughter at the sound of Wolf's voice. "Look! Look!" he hopped around the table much like an excited hen as he pointed at it. Wolf raised a questioning eyebrow and leaned over to look at the table. On it was a picture of the McCloud family. It was obviously quite dated. Vixy and James held the infant Fox and Rita in their arms. "It's perfect!" crowed Andross. "You lost me." Muttered Wolf. Andross laughed again. "I don't know why I didn't think of this before!" "Think of what, my liege?" Andross was suddenly serious. "Her." He jabbed a finger at the image of the infant Rita. "She's the last thing he has of his family. So, she's not related, but they grew up together." He smiled evilly. "It'll be amusing to see what he does when we capture her. To get her back alive and relatively unharmed I'm certain he'd do almost anything we asked of him." Wolf grinned. He might actually get his chance to be alone with her! "I like this idea." Andross perked up a bit more. "Good! I want you and your boys to capture her. any way that you can. And make sure Fox McCloud knows who has her." "Yes, my liege!" Wolf saluted. "Dismissed." Andross turned back to gloat over the photo as Wolf walked out of the throne room. Rita buzzed into the Air Force base parking lot on her motor bike. Fara sat behind her screaming the whole way. She pulled into a parking space next to where Falco had just parked his motorcycle. Katt was wrapped around him seductively. "Okay. Off." He grumbled at her. She gave a short purr before hopping down.
Fara had finally stopped screaming. "Woo! Let's do that again!" Rita took off her helmet and raised an eyebrow. "That was fun!" Fara beamed. Rita shook her head in amusement as she ran her fingers through her long hair. "You screamed the whole way." "100 miles per hour over the Bay Bridge at rush hour!" "We were only going 90." Fox stood in front of General Pepper's massive desk. The General sighed and steepled his fingers. "They're in position to attack just this side of Venom, but they haven't made any moves yet. They might be waiting for us to make the first move. So far I've instructed my forces not to attack, but if Andross makes a move to attack us they are to defend. I don't want to make the first move, if I did then we'll have started another war." "I understand." Said Fox. "However," continued the General, "I would like a team to get in as close as they can and see if they can tell if anything is going on over there." He leaned forward. "Do you have anyone in your group who could pull off something like that without setting off a war?" Fox wrinkled his brow. "Well. Rita used to spy for you during the first war. And Katt's pretty good at sneaking into places undetected." Pepper thought about this for a moment. "Alright, we'll see if those two can do it. and send Fara with them." Fox winced. Fara was anything but subtle, in fact she usually got into more trouble than Falco due to charging into a situation head first without knowing what she was getting into. He had to admit, though, that she'd been better about that lately. "Yes, sir." Fox saluted. "Good. And I want the rest of your team to stay on the front line of our forces just in case they ladies accidentally provoke Andross's forces." With that Pepper dismissed him. The rest of the StarFox team, Fara, and Katt were waiting outside of Pepper's office. "So what's the new, O' fearless leader?" questioned Falco as Fox exited the office. Fox sighed and briefly laid his ears back before bringing them upright again. "He wants the girls to run recon in the enemy forces to see if they can figure out what they're waiting for or tell what they're doing. The rest of us are to sit on the front lines in case they decide to attack our forces." Katt frowned. "Wait a minute. GIRLS run recon? You mean the three of us?" she pointed at Fara. Fox nodded and Katt groaned. "Did you happen to mention to the General that recon usually requires being sneaky?" she but emphasis on the word 'sneaky'. "Hey!" Fara crossed her arms. "I'm not that bad!" "You're about as subtle as a bull in a china shop." Stated Rita. "Look who's talking!" "At least I know when not to charge in with my lasers blazing!" The two vixens continued to squabble. "They're doing it again." groaned Slippy. Katt broke in. "Hey, girls! We've got some time before we have to do anything, so let's go shopping!" They glared back at her. "We're in the middle of something here!" snapped Fara. She turned back to Rita only to find her walking toward the exit. "Jya, ne!" Rita waved as she left. "Hey! Come back here!" Fara followed her out. Falco elbowed Fox. "Least Ri knows when to quit." "I don't like sending Fara with them. Sure, she's a great pilot, but recon and subility just are not her strong points." Fox crossed his arms and sighed. "I think you're just worried about Rita getting hurt." Said Peppy matter of factly. Fox sputtered then composed himself. "I've known her all my life! Of course I'm worried about her getting hurt!" Slippy nudged Peppy and gave him a 'told you so' look. Katt giggled then said, "You're kids are going to be so cute!" "Kids? What kids?" Fox looked momentarily panicked. "Yeah! What kids?" Rita's voice came from behind Fox. No one had seen her come back in. "The kids that the two of you are going to have!" Katt chirped, grinning ear to ear. Rita blushed bright red and Fox tried to look non-chalant. "News flash, Pinky, " Rita used one of Katt's least favorite nicknames, ".that would require the two of us actually having sex." She whispered loudly so everyone could hear. Fox turned a bright shade of crimson at the word 'sex'. "And we haven't." she finished then nodded as if she'd just passed on a great nugget of knowledge to her mis-informed friend. Katt turned a bit more pink then giggled. "That doesn't mean you won't!" then she ran as Rita lunged at her. General Pepper's laugh rang through the hallway. He'd been watching the entire time. Peppy sighed almost wistfully, "Ah, young love." Wolf and the rest of the StarWolf team sat in their fighters just behind the front lines of the Androssian forces. Wolf was watching all around intently. A spy working for Andross had gotten wind of the Cornerians plans to send the female portion of StarFox on a recon mission through the ranks where StarWolf was now waiting for them. All they had to do was wait for them to show up and give themselves away. then Rita would be his! The one-eyed lupine smiled smugly to himself as he thought of the things he would do with her once he had her safely behind closed doors. A flicker of movement in the corner of his eye brought his attention back to the situation at hand. He turned to look in the direction of the movement, but whatever it had been was gone now. He keyed his comm. "Leon, did you see something in sector three a moment ago?" Leon answered back almost immediately, "It looked like a fighter painted black. I caught a brief glimpse of a glint off the cockpit window." Wolf grinned. "I'm going to go check it out. The rest of you keep an eye our for anything else." Pigma snickered at Wolf's use of the phase 'keep an eye out'. He guided his Wolfen to 'sector three' which was really just the debris of and asteroid that had impacted with something much bigger eons ago. Carefully he scanned the area as he deftly maneuvered around the floating rocks. One by one he switched through his comm channels to see if he could pick up anything other than his own forces. On one channel he though he briefly heard a sigh. It sounded female, but he couldn't be sure. He left his comm on that channel and listened. Suddenly he realized that he could faintly hear someone talking. He switched the channel a fraction and it became clearer. ". stay hidden until you can make a run for it. Katt and I will join up later." Wolf grinned broadly as he recognized Rita's voice. It had gotten deeper and more feminine since he'd last heard it. Then he saw it. A black arwing was riding next to a large chunk of asteroid, doing a very good job of being inconspicuous. It only took him a second to realize that this must be Fara Phoenix's ship. "I think he found me." Came Fara's voice over the comm, confirming his ascertains. "He hasn't moved in a few minutes." "Wait a few more seconds to make sure then run." Rita sounded tense. "I'm on my way if you need some backup." Wolf chose that moment to open fire. Fara's arwing immediately came to life and she expertly dodged his shot, coming perilously close to some of the rocks in the process. He hadn't realized that Katt and Rita had been so close until a silver arwing with black g-diffusers buzzed past him and landed a few shots along the nose of his Wolfen. His prey had taken the bait. Almost immediately he pulled away from Fara's ship and went after the new arwing. A pink arwing was on top of him almost instantly. "GO! Get out of here!" Rita yelled over the comm as she and Wolf played cat and mouse among the debris. "Like Hell!" Katt shrieked back. "I'm not leaving you alone with HIM!" As Wolf chased Rita, Katt chased Wolf. Only when Fara screamed over the channel did Katt reluctantly pull away. The rest of StarWolf was giving the fennec vixen a run for her money. It was soon apparent that they were trying to chase Katt and Fara off. "GET OUT OF HERE!" Rita demanded again, then softly she added, "I'll be alright." "Dammit, Ri!" Katt half sobbed as she and Fara were forced to retreat. When her two teammates were safely out of range Rita powered down her ship and drifted. "I know you're listening, O'Donnell." She sounded calm. "Are you going to tell me what you want?" Wolf coasted beside her, but he stayed powered up. He laughed softly over the comm. "You." He saw her through her cockpit window, she gripped the flight controls tightly and had her eyes closed. After a few moments she answered. "I suppose I don't have much of choice, eh? If I run, your teammates'll just disable my ship." She glared at him through the canopy. Wolf was almost giddy with pleasure. He had her trapped and she either had to give up or they'd take her forcefully. A ragged sigh came over the comm. "You win. this time." Katt and Fara had just finished explaining the failed mission to Fox and were sobbing. Fox pounded on the wall in frustration, nearly putting his fist through the wall at one point. "Incoming transmission." ROB's voice echoed through the Great Fox. "Dammit!" Fox swore as he keyed the comm. His face darkened with hatred as Andross's face appeared on the screen. "Greetings, young McCloud!" he gloated. "By now you've probably heard that you're missing something. " He beamed. Somewhere in the background a woman yelled 'get your fat hands off of me, bacon-butt' then Rita was dragged in front of the comm. She was bound hand and foot and was held captive between Leon and Wolf. "Sorry, Fox! I'm sorry!" she managed to say before they hauled her off screen again. Andross's face returned and he looked overly pleased at the murderous look on Fox's face. "She hasn't been hurt. yet! But you'd better watch you step if you want to make sure she remains unharmed. Each time you make a move against me or my forces you'll get part of her back. but it won't be attached to the rest of her!" He cackled evilly then the connection went dead. Fox ripped a light fixture off the wall and threw it at the screen. He screamed in rage. Everyone stood back from him, slightly afraid of what he'd do. He turned to Fara and Katt who were clinging to each other and crying harder than before. "You left her there! YOU!" his voice was high pitched and tense with rage and grief. Fara sank down to the floor and clutched at Katt's knees. Katt had her fingers stuffed in her mouth as tears poured down her cheeks leaving dark trails in her fur. "You just RAN AWAY and LEFT HER!" he punched a hole in the wall and stormed out of the room. Peppy knelt down to comfort Fara as Falco tried to calm Katt down. "He doesn't mean it. He just doesn't know how to deal with this." Falco hugged Katt close to his chest as she sobbed. Peppy cradled Fara like a child and rocked her back and forth. Slippy watched the screen with a feeling of total helplessness. "I've never seen him like this." he said softly. "Not even when she took that bullet in the chest." He trailed off and looked down at his hands mildly surprised when tears started to fall from his cheeks onto them. They roughly escorted Rita down to a block of cells. It was surprisingly clean and bright, for a cellblock. She'd found herself shoved into a cell by herself. Wolf had stayed a while longer than the others and had promised to come back so they could 'get to know each other better'. She knew what he meant by that, and she wasn't looking forward to it. She found that she could look directly into the cell across from her own. Its inhabitant was a middle-aged fox who looked weak and seriously malnourished. He looked familiar, but he kept his head down and his face hidden so she couldn't be sure. Once a guard came in and threw a bowl of some evil looking slop into her cell. "LaShette, right?" he grinned a toothless grin at her. She refused to acknowledge his presence and he finally went away. But she'd seen the other prisoner lift his head and look at her briefly when her name had been said. The guard had been standing in the way so she hadn't gotten a clear look at him. When he was sure the guard was gone the prisoner inched closer to the door of his cell. Rita realized that he wasn't as weak as she'd originally thought. His prison garb just covered his malnourished frame. She guessed that if he'd been fed properly he'd be built like Fox. Fox! That's who he reminds me of! She realized that he was watching her watch him. "It's not polite to stare, Rita." His voice was strong and deep. She was on her feet instantly, knocking over the bowl of slime in the process. "DAD!?" Fox had rampaged around the Great Fox for a good hour. Eventually he found himself in Rita's room, curled up on her bed with one of her pillows clutched tightly to his chest. The faint smell of her perfume lingered on it and it helped to sooth his rage somewhat. It was a light scent, not quite floral. He couldn't figure out what it smelled like, but it made him think of fresh laundry and flowers. More than anything it made him think of Rita. He didn't know what to do. Rita was the last piece of his family that he had left, not counting Peppy, but that was different. But was saving the person he loved the most just reason to let millions suffer? He struggled with himself. He loved Rita dearly and didn't want anything to happen to her, but how could he just stand by and watch Andross destroy the lives of millions of innocent people? He knew he couldn't let that happen. And he cried as he felt that Rita's death would be on his hands. "I'm sorry, Ri." He cried into her pillow. "I love you more than anything. But I can't let Andross win and harm all the other people in Lylat. He has me trapped, either you die or many others will. Why did this have to happen?" Tears ran freely down his muzzle and soaked into the pillow. "And why didn't I have to courage to tell you that I loved you when you were here." The door opened quietly. Peppy softly cleared his throat. When he knew that Fox was listening he said, "General Pepper is on the comm. He says that since StarWolf open fired on our pilots first that we can mount a counter- attack." he trailed off and looked at Fox to see what the young leader would say. Fox sat up still clutching the pillow. Softly he said, "I'm about to kill the best friend I ever had." He took a deep breath then slowly let it out. "Andross has now killed the three people I loved the most. He's going to pay dearly." Rita pressed her face against the bars of her cell. James leaned against the bars of his as they talked. "We thought you were dead!" Rita sobbed. He sighed. "Apparently Andross has forgotten about me. Though there have been many times when I had wished to be dead." He trailed off when he saw the agonized look on her face. Briefly she explained how she'd been captured. "But I don't know why they wanted me." She finished, "Unless they're trying to use me as bait of some sort. But if that's their plan then why didn't they try to capture Katt and Fara too?" James thought for a moment. "I don't know." He finally answered. "But I don't like the way that O'Donnell fellow keeps looking at you." She looked at the floor the quietly told him about the time Wolf had tried to rape her in the Academy. James was furious. He slammed his fists against the bars. "If I ever get my hands on that disgusting low-life." he seethed.
Rita twirled her necklace between her fingers. James saw it catch the light. "You still have that?" He asked staring at the gift he'd given her for her sixteenth birthday. "Of course. I've hardly been anywhere without it since you gave it to me." She looked at the ring shaped pendant. There were signs of wear from where she touched it often, and the chain had been replaced a year ago when the old one had finally snapped. She still had the broken chain; it was stored in a safe corner of her jewelry box. James sighed. "You've grown up so much. The last time I saw you, you were all pigtails, curls and bouncy ball of giggles. Now you're a mature woman." He stared at his knees and sighed again. "I've missed so much." Rita smiled, "Falco told me that when people tell a girl she's grown up a lot that what they really mean is 'gee your boobs have gotten big'!" He nearly choked then started laughing. "Ha! Made you laugh!" He smiled at her. "Gotta make the best of a bad situation, eh?" She nodded. "That's what you always told me to do." "So I did." Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Wolf. Blaster in hand he opened Rita's cell. James lunged against the bars of his cell, but a guard quickly sedated him with a stun gun. Wolf grabbed her wrist and yanked her off down the hall, despite her struggles. "Andross wants to see you." Was his only explanation. Within a matter of minutes she found herself face to face with the mad scientist. He gloated over his captive. "I've got something to show you!" he crowed. "ATTILA!" he bellowed. Rita blinked and rubbed her eyes as she watched herself walk into the room. Attila stopped a few feet in front of Rita. "Not too bad for only a few hours work, no?" Andross ran a hand down Attila's jawline. "Meet Attila. She an android copy of yourself." He pinched her arm and a red spot appeared. "Made ever more realistic with the addition of real skin, fur, and even blood!" He beamed proudly. Rita felt sick. Wolf stared at the android wide-eyed. Andross seized Rita's arm. "All that's needed now is for us to give her some of your personality." She decided she'd had enough of this horrid nightmare, so she fainted. Wolf caught her before she hit the floor. Andross just shrugged. "It'll be easier this way anyhow." Deftly he hooked Attila to a strange device via a cable. To the other side he strapped the unconscious Rita to a chair and connected some wires to her forehead and temples. "This won't hurt a bit!" He flipped a switch on the device. Wolf didn't notice anything happening until Attila cried out. Andross flipped the switch back then undid Attila's cable. A soft moan escaped from Rita. "Take that one back to her cell, O'Donnell." Wolf pulled the wires from her head and unstrapped her from the chair. He picked her up and carried her out of the lab. "And make sure she gets back to her cell with NO DETOURS!" Andross yelled after him. Wolf grumbled, but obeyed. He'd have his chance soon enough. Attila fell to her knees in front of Andross. "Unnh." she groaned. He voice was Rita's but pitched a bit higher. "How." she looked around "did I get here?" Andross frowned. He'd expected her to just pick up some of Rita's quirks to enable her to fool the StarFox team long enough for him to annihilate them. He hadn't expected her original programming to get overwritten. He sighed. There were ways around that problem; at least if she thought she was Rita she'd be convincing. She spotted Andross and screamed. "You killed Dad!" she accused then flung herself at him attempting to gouge out his eyes. Two guards rushed in and pulled her off him. He grinned. She thought she was Rita at about the age of sixteen. The he laughed. Attila started to cry. "Perfect!" he shouted. This was going to be fun after all. Andross beamed down at the hysterically sobbing Attila. Wolf sat in a chair glowering at him. "Oh, come on now, Wolf! You got a chance with Rita in bed, and now we have the perfect thing to torture the young McCloud with!" "It's not the same." He grumbled as a response. He'd enjoyed it at the time, but he couldn't forget the fact that it hadn't been Rita, not really anyway. "I can't wait to see his face when he finds out his darling little friend has been raped by you. Of course he'll never know that the real Rita is safely secured in a cell here." He lowered his voice, "And if you're more useful this time than you were the last time you went against StarFox, I might let you have her as a sign of gratitude." Rita thought her head was going to explode. She had no idea how long she'd been lying on the floor of her cell, but her head felt like it had been pounding for ages. Slowly it dawned on her that someone was calling to her. "RITA!" James was futilely reaching through the bars toward her. He sounded panicked. She could only respond by groaning softly as she tried unsuccessfully to sit up. It felt like the annual Cornerian Holiday Parade was marching across her skull so she just rolled onto her back then lay as still as she could. "Rita?" James called to her softly clutching at the bars. "Can you hear me? Rita?" She groaned in response, which was about all she could do. James talked to her for a while as her head slowly stopped aching. After a while she was able to respond to his questions with brief answers, though it still was nearly impossible for her to move. "What did that egomaniacal bastard do to you?" James demanded. Rita had finally managed to pull herself up onto the narrow bunk. "I don't remember. that last thing I saw was, well. me. But it wasn't really me. I don't think." She faltered as she tried to explain what she'd seen. "It was an android made to look just like me. But I don't know why." James frowned. "Fox." She started and nearly fell off the bunk. "But why?" "He's sadistic, Ri, he'll do anything to hurt anyone or anything connected to me." She thought she saw a tear run down his cheek. "He killed Vixy. The bomb was meant for me. He just couldn't stand it that she was my wife and that she loved me and not him." A few more tears fell from his eyes. "And now he's using you to hurt Fox just because Fox is my son, and he can't stand the fact that Vixy had my child. He told me that when he captured me. He said that he hadn't wanted to hurt Vixy in any way, but that me and my 'spawn' had to die for keeping her away from him." James lowered his face to his knees. "Oh, daddy." breathed Rita close to tears. Andross laughed to himself as he thought of the agony that he would cause Fox when he put Attila into action. The he laughed again as he thought of what Wolf would do to Rita when he finally let the one-eyed lupine have her. The young vixen's agony would be much more intense if he let Wolf's appetite go un-fed for a while. He wanted to hurt and destroy anything and everything that was connected to James McCloud. I did kill him, didn't I? Ah, well, wherever he is he's suffering greatly, thought the mad ape. He chuckled again as he keyed open a series of locks to the most private area of his lab. The interior of the room was kept dark except for the glow of bluish light coming from a large stasis tube in the center. The lighting design of the room didn't really serve and real purpose; Andross just liked that it gave the room that "creepy sci-fi flick" atmosphere. Floating in the transparent liquid of the stasis tube was Andross's most prized creation or re-creation as the case was. It was a cloned body, empty of a soul or personality and not quite alive yet. But he was going to change that soon. In a few more days his "on-staff" mystic, Ayamori, would have the ritual to call a soul into the body complete. It wasn't going to be just any soul either. He was going to resurrect Vixy Reinard. It was a shame that Aya's wife, Yuki, had hidden or killed their daughter the day she was born twenty years ago. Andross had run a pre-natal exam on Yuki and determined that the child would be far more powerful than both of her parents combined. She could have done the ritual in an instant and Andross wouldn't have had to wait. But there wasn't anything he could do about that. He'd toyed with the idea of having Rita in the room as the ceremony was preformed because he'd heard rumors that she'd shown signs of premonition and psychic tendencies. But he knew she'd probably cause more trouble than having the extra power in the room was worth. He gazed at his creation. It was the body of a beautiful vixen; blonde haired and hazel eyed. An exact copy of the original Vixy, created from a few strands of her hair he'd collected from her corpse at the morgue. He stroked the glass affectionately. This would be his final insult to the name of James McCloud. Ayamori Shea stomped around the living quarters he shared with his wife, Yuki, and four-year-old daughter, Morrigan. "I can't believe this!" He half- shrieked at his wife. "If you hadn't felt the inane need to play the saint and hide our daughter then we'd be all done with this by now!" Yuki hugged Morrigan tightly to her breast. "You don't know that." She countered. "You weren't entirely sure that she would've had any power, let alone more than you and I!" "BUT SHE MIGHT HAVE BEEN! Even if she wasn't all that powerful she would've still been a major help to me." He clutched his fists tightly as he explained. "Every little bit helps, I suppose you've heard that phrase before, haven't you, dearest?" he let out a short laugh at the use of his favorite nickname for her. The joke to him was that they despised each other with a passion. "She's not dead, and you know that." Yuki's voice was barely above a whisper. Aya laughed again. "I know that. but I can't find her! And she's missed several valuable years of training and instruction! If she hasn't had any help she'll be completely useless." He continued to rant on into the early hours of the morning. Yuki was to terrified to leave his presence and Morrigan finally fell asleep in her mother's arms. Rita's dreams were troubling. She hadn't really slept well since her capture, but this night was the worst because she could not wake up and end the nightmares. She saw Vixy next to her, silently pleading for help. But her voice wasn't audible and Rita didn't know what she was asking for. Around the two vixens macabre images swirled like a thick mist. Again and again she saw Andross's decapitated and laughing head followed by nightmare images of Wolf brutally raping her. She shuddered and hoped that it wasn't a portent of things to come. So far she'd managed to thwart all of his attempts at forcing himself on her, and she didn't plan to let him in the future either. More scenes flashed past them. She saw Fox and cringed. He knelt in front of a dark throne; her body was draped on the steps going up to the throne like a rag doll. Somewhere Andross was laughing. Finally she saw James lying lifeless on the floor with Vixy clinging to him and crying on his chest. The Vixy that stood beside her jerked her arm and pointed at the vision desperately. Rita blinked at the impossible scene. Dad's still alive and Mom died years ago. this is impossible! Why can't I wake up!? All the visions swirled about them faster and faster. Vixy vanished and Andross's laughter boomed around her. She felt something at her feet, and looked down. Andross's head grinned back up at her. James jerked awake as Rita's screams echoed through the cellblock. Several guards rushed into the vicinity then left grumpily when they realized that it had been the result of nightmares. Rita spent the rest of the night with her knees tucked up to her chin wrapped in her one ratty blanket. James talked to her about various things hoping to distract her so she could finally get some restful sleep. The android Attila had been put in a separate cellblock from James and Rita. She lay in a ball on the floor sobbing endlessly. After Wolf's abuse of her Andross had given the guards permission to use her in any way they liked. He giggled to himself at the agony he knew her fragile mental state would cause Fox. And he laughed as he imagined Fox's reaction when he heard about the abuse she'd been through. Now all he had to do was find a way for her to get to StarFox without it seeming too obvious. Attila still thought she was Rita, although if someone had observed her for a long enough period of time they would have noticed several differences in mannerisms between the original and the copy. And Attila wanted to die. To Be Continued.