Mission 09 – Answers

"What-what are you going to do to me?" Pigma asked with a nervous voice, in the face of the general. To everyone else, Pepper may be their saving grace, but to Pigma, Pepper was a hell hound. Pepper was ruthless, intelligent, and deadly.

"Use that puny brain of yours and think." Pepper replied, the smile fading off his face. "You know what would happen. I'll give you the time – Seven days." Pepper always enjoyed torturing criminals, not physically, but mentally. For Pigma, knowing the coming his death but being powerless to prevent it would hurt more than any torture.

"No . . ." Dengar dropped to his knees. Seven days, and everything would be over. "No, please don't kill me! I am begging you General Pepper, please!"

Pepper laughed, "That's funny, I don't remember Wolf saying that when he was going to be executed." The general paused, "And I don't remember James saying the same thing in the face of Andross."

After all these years, Pepper still wanted to avenge James McCloud's death. Pigma did not realize that, not till now anyways. James was a mere leader of a small mercenary team, why would Pepper even care? The pig wanted to weep, but his robotic eyes would not allow him.

"Don't worry; I am sure Leon will come for you." Pepper said with his arms crossed. The pig was completely broken, and he was no longer a source of entertainment. Perhaps Andrew would prove to be more worthy after all. "I am sure he would try, at least. You better start praying that he does." With that, Pepper turned towards the exit. He would leave Andrew alone for now, since he had a task to accomplish.

A guard came up to the general, "General, how many guards do you want? If twenty is not enough, we can have fifty, a hundred, two-fifty. . ."

"TWO." The reply came coldly.

"Two hundred?" asked the guard.

"Two." Pepper held up two fingers in front of the puzzled guard.

"T-Two?" the guard looked up into the general's face, and saw a smile. "Are you sure?"

"Don't worry; they are perfectly designed for situations like these." Pepper exited, chuckling. When he stopped, a commanding voice came through the exit. "Withdraw all your men and prisoners from this wing; we don't want any more innocents dying."
Sirus walked into the small bar on the Great Fox. A midsized room that could seat the entire team comfortably, along one side of the room there was a large rack with assorted alcoholic beverages. The room was only used by Falco and Peppy though, no one else on the Great Fox consumed alcohol. The room was occupied with the two drinkers now, simple having a communion shot or two.

Falco looked over to Ares, "What brings you in here; I thought alcohol didn't appeal to you."

Sirus grinned, "It doesn't, I came to make sure you don't drink yourself into a stupor Falco. Peppy's smart and knows when to stop, you on the other hand don't."

Peppy grinned, "I'm not big on drinking, simply a shot or two once in a while. It's supposed to help the heart, but I don't know about that. Maybe I'm just hurting myself more." Peppy chuckled as Falco sneered at the both of them, the hare continued to speak, "I heard your brother and cousin caught Andrew and Pigma, you have quite an impressive family Mr. Ares."

Ares shrugged, "Yes, they are impressive...I'm just glad they're not hurt." He thought he'd add that in for good measure, play the charade. He knew those two could handle themselves under more extreme situations, like taking on the entire Cornerian military single-handedly.

Falco poured another glass, "Sure you wouldn't care for a drink?"

Ares frowned, "No, I prefer a straight mind, I've seen what that swill can do to people and I don't want any of that. Not even the tiniest bit." He thought about Pigma's love for alcohol, the headaches it brought the team, and the bruises it brought Damon. Although he'd made the choice long before that, right after his parents had died, when he himself was abused by a constantly drunken uncle.

Peppy nodded, "That's a good choice, you've got a good head on your shoulders Ares. Well, tell your family good work for me the next time you see them."

Ares nodded, "I will, don't drink too much Falco." He chuckled and sauntered away as Falco scowled at him.
"Man, I wish Wolf had told me his password. This really stinks, what's the point of giving me his Wolfen if we can't get inside to pilot it." Damon could be heard around the corner saying.

Sirus had been wandering the ship since leaving the bar. He peeked in and saw Slippy, Tricky and Damon huddled around one of the Wolfens. It was the one he used to pilot himself. He chuckled as he watched them for a moment. Slippy had assorted gadgetry strewn across the floor as they attempted to crack his password.

"It's too bad he didn't make it simple like something that was close to him. Like his wife's name for instance..." Damon said.

That hit a nerve, Wolf's wife, the one he was married too after he had escaped his uncle. A girl he knew, from the public school he attended to escape his uncle, took him in. They slowly fell in love and got married. Wolf was happy, and planning on living a normal life. They had gone to help with a terra-forming project on Titania. He as a defense pilot and she as a researcher, it worked splendidly for a while. Then disaster struck, some of the researchers had been involved in darker dealings. Then due to some more misinformation the entire faculty was labeled as traitors. So the Cornerian military came in and charged everyone with treason, executing all on the spot. He had gotten away, but at the cost of his dearly beloved wife. That is why he became Wolf O'Donnell, traitor to the Lylat System, agent of Andross, destroyer of people.

He slowly walked in, "Hey guys, how's it going in here?"

Slippy frowned as he punched a series of keys "Not well, we're trying to crack Wolf's password but nothing has worked yet. General Pepper lost the paper with both the passwords to the Wolfens. So far none of Mr. O'Donnell's personal information has worked."

Ares smiled, "Hey, why don't you three go take a break, and let me have a crack at these."

Slippy frowned, "Do you know anything about decryption Lieutenant Ares?" Slippy patted his laptop that was plugged into the Wolfen's outer mainframe jack. The one used for maintenance.

"I know a little bit, come on you three, at least give me a shot." Ares smiled coolly, hoping they'd break and let him open it for them.

Tricky looked towards Damon, "I'm getting bored, Mr. Ares is right. Damon, will you come play with me?"

Damon smiled, "Come on Slippy, it can't hurt to let him try, we can always come back in half an hour or so to see how he's doing. It will help clear our heads." Damon walked over and gave Sirus an opportunity to try. "Be careful with my ship..." the young hybrid joked.

"It's not yours until we can get it open, right?" Ares said shot back playfully.

Damon walked out with Tricky following; Slippy would keep stealing glances back, as if he were expecting Sirus to be screwing up his precious equipment. Finally all three were out of sight and Ares inputted the password. It did happen to be his wife's name, but in a different sense. His wife's name was Sara, but there had been a secret code they had used as children. It was a computer code that replaced some letters with similar icons. If he recalled correctly it had been called l337, or leet in real words. So following suit the password wasn't SARA, but S4R4. He smiled to himself as the cockpit flew open. He wondered what Damon would change the password as. Though knowing the boy as well as he did, the password would probably be WOLF.
Jade stood by Obsidian, both wearing guards uniform. Their Boss had assigned them the most boring mission ever: To guard Andrew and Pigma till the day of their execution. The lights were off, and the prison was pitch- black. However, Jade liked the darkness, because she was the only one who could see, besides Obsidian. It was her turn to keep watch, while Obsidian took his nap on the ground, snoring audibly. The black cat paced in circles, having nothing better to do. There was no one to talk to, except for the guard who brought them food. Obsidian on the other hand would probably kill her if she woke him during his sleep. Jade would love to have someone to visit her right now, be it Leon, or whoever attacked the prison the first time. She was hungry for a fight.

Her ears perked up at the slightest shuffling noises, even though most of them were from Obsidian. For her Boss to say that she was perfect for this task was an overstatement. She could wait for an enemy for hours or days, only if she knew they were coming for sure. She hated waiting like this, without knowing who she might be encountering. For all she knew, no one may show up, and that would be a week of her life wasted in the dark prison.

To relieve her boredom, she decided to talk to Andrew. The monkey was in distress, knowing that he would be executed. Both Jade and Andrew were waiting for the same thing, someone to come. But they had different purposes, Andrew wanted a savior, Jade wanted a fight.

"So, Andy, you have six days left. How does it feel?" Jade asked, knocking on the glass wall.

"Leave me alone." Andrew said, burying his head in his arms, crouching on his cot.

"Why the sad face? Don't you miss Wolf? You get to see him soon." Jade teased; there was nothing Andrew could do about it. She felt powerful; she felt she was in control, not being controlled. And of course, it was fun, not boring.

"Go away!" Andrew said, he was in no mood to listen to her taunts. She was annoying, way too annoying. If Andrew ever got out of this mess alive, she would be the first one he would kill, without a doubt.

"Come on, aren't you bored in that cell?" Jade said, "I don't know about you, but I am really bored. And I don't have anyone to talk to."

"Talk to your freaky friend." Andrew replied, "Stop bothering me."

"But he is sleeping, and he'll beat me up if I wake him." Jade purposefully talked like an immature child, just to annoy Andrew more. She found the monkey quite adorable when frustrated. Unfortunately, Andrew had a visor on, and Jade couldn't tell most of his emotions. "So what do you want to talk about? We can talk about wars, fighting, how to kill people, how not to get killed, how to act, how to lie. . ."

"JUST SHUT UP ALREADY!" Andrew yelled, "YOU ARE SO ANNOYING!"

"Oh my! Someone forgot to take their pills today," Jade mocked, acting surprised, "We still have a week to spend together, I suggest you try to get along with me. It's less boring that way."

"Leave the poor guy alone, Jade." said Obsidian, "Or I will kill you."

"Whatever, I'd like to see you try." Jade shot back at the awakened wolf. Oh yes, a spar match would be quite a fun thing to do, if Obsidian wasn't going too hard on her. "Should we? I am getting really bored."

Obsidian popped his neck and cracked his knuckles, and moved himself into a frontal stance, a simple, yet effective starting stance for a fight. His two arms held up in front of his slanted body, one in front of another. "No weapons."

"Sure, bring it on." Jade shifted her center of gravity downwards, and then she lunged at Obsidian with immeasurable speed. Although she was not as strong as Obsidian, she was faster and more agile. Besides, it was just a spar match; the most they would end up with was perhaps a broken rib or a bloody nose.

Obsidian saw her attack in the dark, it was a simple lunge. The wolf smiled and brought his elbow down onto the cat's back. There was a loud thud, and Jade ended up on the ground coughing profusely. However she had no intension of giving up so easily. Rolling onto her back, the cat aimed a kick in the middle of the wolf's chest, and unexpected move for Obsidian. The wolf was kicked half way down the corridor, and landed flat on his back.

"I said NO WEAPONS!" Obsidian coughed out, "Your heels are so sharp they could kill!"

"Ah shut up you wimp." Jade said, coughing lightly as she tried to laugh. The cat got herself upright, leaning on the wall. "Let's go, I am not finished yet."

"My pleasure," Obsidian flipped himself back onto his feet. This time he charged, one arm winding up for a powerful punch. If that punch made contact with Jade's face, it would be her turn to sleep, and wake up with a headache five hours later. "Lights out, Jade." His fist made direct contact with the cat's temple, sending her unconscious body skidding across the corridor. Obsidian smiled to himself. That was amusing, at least for him.

Andrew saw the cat's body skid across the corridor, ending up right in front of his cell. He didn't hear the conversation between the two freaks, and safely assumed that someone was here to save him. The monkey smiled, and pressed his face on the glass, only to see the other freak walking down the corridor.

"Mind you own business." Obsidian said coldly, picking up Jade and sling her across his broad shoulders. "Or you will end up like her." Threats were amusing to him, as jokes were amusing to Jade. A spar fight was indeed a nice way to put each other to sleep, much better than bedtime stories, in his opinion. The wolf threw the cat onto a simple mattress set up next to their post, then sat down on the ground, leaning against a wall. His breath was still slightly wheezing due to the kick he received, but it was nothing significant.

There he sat, for what seemed like hours.

And then, he sensed someone coming.

Obsidian sniffed the air, tracing the intruder like a bloodhound. The attacker's scent was familiar, but the wolf could not recall where he smelled that scent before. Whoever it was, the culprit was hiding in the air conditioning vents, as the lupine's acute olfactory cells indicated. The wolf drew his black rapier, ready for an epic battle. A person who could kill over sixty people and escape without a trace was definitely a worthy opponent. The wolf could hear the enemy creeping closer, softly shuffling through the vents. The wolf left his post, and walked to a spot next to Andrew's cell. If the attacker was coming, he must past his spot to reach Andrew or Pigma. Obsidian pointed the tip of his sword towards the ceiling, ready to impale the intruder. As the shuffling noises came directly overhead, he lunged upwards with his sword, piercing the ceiling. When he pulled his sword back out, there was blood, and there was silence.

"That was easy . . . Too easy." The wolf muttered to himself as he sniffed the blood on his blade. The wolf glanced up, and saw droplets of blood dripping down the hole. Whoever it was, the attacker was most likely dead. The wolf watched the blood continue to drip down the hole, breathing heavily from the serge of adrenaline in his blood. Suddenly, a laser blasted straight through the ceiling, grazing his left shoulder. Obsidian quickly backed away, as the attacker showered the corridor with laser beams. Part of the ceiling collapsed, and a black shape dropped along with the debris. The black shaped rose, revealing the form of a man, dressed entirely in black. The man's abdomen had been pierced, but he showed no sign of weakening from the blood loss.

"Who are you?" Obsidian questioned, but his answer came in a shower of burning lasers. It was an automatic laser blaster, something that Obsidian would consider "cheap and dishonorable" to use as a weapon. Apparently, the attacker did not care about it. The man clothed in black shot Andrew's cell door with a shower of lasers, melting the large metallic hinges. The door fell outwards into the corridor with the thud. Andrew was released. However, to get to Pigma the man must pass Obsidian, who was hiding around the corner. Luckily, there were other ways to accomplish this task.

Obsidian waited near the corner, his sword in an offensive position. If the man decided to come around the corner, he would find himself divided in half, vertically. The young wolf breathed heavily, waiting for his foe to approach. This was indeed a worthy foe. A moment later, the wolf curiously peeked out the corridor. The man was gone, and Andrew was gone too. Obsidian wondered how they disappeared, his mind thinking as quickly as possible. There was only one way out, and that was to get pass himself. Even though Jade was unconscious, her end of the corridor did not lead to the exit, and the attacker should definitely know that for a fact. The only other way was . . . the vents.

Suddenly, two arms exploded from the ceiling, grabbing Obsidian's head and twisting it abruptly to the side, in an attempt to break his neck. If Obsidian was a normal person, such an attack would have worked. The attacker's strength was lacking, not even enough to dislocate Obsidian's vertebrae. The young wolf grabbed the attacker's wrists and pulled downwards, bringing the man down through the ceiling, dropping his sword in the process. The two wrestled for about thirty seconds, before the young wolf punched the attacker in the chest with all his might. There was a few sickening snaps as the wolf's fist crushed the attacker's ribcage. The black figure slumped against the wall, then sideways onto the ground.

"Now that's better. . ." Obsidian muttered, glancing down at the body. Noticing that there was something familiar about the man, the wolf ripped off the attacker's mask. He gasped, eyes widened. It was Cadet Damon.

"Oh no . . . Damon."