Mission 36 – The Fall

"Master Leon, are you sure you'll be okay? Are you sure you don't need Pigma's help?" Fourteen followed the chameleon as the two casually paced towards a door. It was the door to Leon and Pigma's hideout, a place where no-one would ever suspect. Both Leon and Pigma had successfully changed their identity. Through plastic surgery, their faces were completely different, allowing them to purchase a small house that raised no suspicion. The plastic surgeons, along with the previous house-owner were already dead, mercilessly murdered by Leon.

"Don't worry about it kid." Leon said with a smile, tucking a blaster into his belt, under a trench-coat. "Everything is set. I won't strike unless I am one hundred percent certain about my success."

"Alright . . ." The child said, still worried about his master, "Make sure that no one sees you. . ."

"It is okay kid . . . don't worry so much, okay?" Leon said with a smile, bending down to ruffle the little hybrid's fur. "I'll be back within two hours. Be a good boy, alright?"

"Alright Master . . ." Fourteen replied, then scuttled off into his room.

Leon gave a little sigh. Was it fair for him to make his beloved creation walk down the same path as he did? He could not answer that himself, being the guiltless man that he was. In his mind there was neither regret nor remorse, but only a burning heart to avenge. All those who took part in his imprisonment, and anyone who dared to stand in his way must be destroyed. With that thought firmly set in his mind, the lizard walked out the door.


With his careful predictions and flawless investigations Leon had came up with a fool proof plan. Normally, at this time of the day, Damon would be having lunch. However, as he found out earlier, the hybrid's recent depressions had caused him to stay at home alone. With Sirus and Cody gone for flight practice and Obsidian off to work, it was the perfect time to strike. He also found out that Chad Keogh had been laid off the day before. Being the masterful tactician that he was, Leon had already called Chad earlier in the day for a job interview, at the location at which the Ares family resided. However, before the tiger could reach the house, Leon must do some preparations.

With his cloaking device turned on, Leon knew he had to infiltrate the house as quickly as possible. Within minutes, the device would overheat and reveal his presence. However, he only needed a few minutes to complete his task. With everything set, the chameleon pressed the doorbell.

He could hear shuffling inside the house: Damon was coming. The lizard's palm curled up tightly, concealing the piece of chloroform soaked cloth in his invisible hand. Knowing every physical aspect of Damon, Leon knew exactly how much of the chemical he needed to render the hybrid unconscious for the exact period of time. His only concern right now was for Chad, who may show up at the wrong time and ruin his operation.

The door creaked opened, and Damon's black-furred head and neon-green eyes protruded from the gap with a bewildered expression on his face. "Huh?"

At that instant Leon quickly wrapped the chloroform-soaked handkerchief around Damon's muzzle. Within seconds, the Damon's eyes began to roll back, and his body fell limply backwards. Satisfied that he had rendered the hybrid unconscious, Leon quickly turned off his cloaking device and entered the house, leaving the front door slightly opened as a trap.

"Excellent." Leon chuckled maliciously as he dragged Damon's unconscious body into the closest room, away from the line of sight of the front door. He took a brief glance at his wristwatch. "Five minutes . . . heheheh . . . let the fun begin."


Sirus gently glided home in his Wolfen. He zipped around the empty skies, meandering his way home. He was leaving work early, but still keeping Cody on his toes. Cody had to follow all of Wolf's intricate maneuvers. If he wasn't able to keep up, he wasn't going to get dinner. Fortunately the lizard was doing exceptionally well, and by the sounds from the intercom Patrick was having the time of his life as well. Sirus chuckled, "Alright Tibet, nice work, we're officially done for the day. I'm not going to order you around anymore for the evening."

"Awwww…" Patrick whined.

Sirus chuckled, "I relinquish command of your controls to your younger brother…at least until we get home. Just don't stray off course you two."

They flew the rest of the home, Cody still following through with intricate aerial feats. The ships finally neared home, and Sirus prepped the garage doors to open. But when the house appeared he was in shock. Surrounding both his garage, and the rest of his house, were a fleet of police hovercrafts all with lights flashing. Canines were milling about, each clad in a black uniform. Sirus rushed in and landed his fighter. Several officers rushed around the ship, bombarding him with different questions all at once. Mostly he heard, "What are you doing here!"

Sirus snarled at them, "Back off, this is my property; I have a right to be here. What the heck is going on!" He began aggressively pushing the men aside, trying to get through to see what the matter was, "Get off me you morons! I said GET OFF!" He burst through the crowd of police men and past the yellow tape surrounding his property.

Another man glared at him, "Who let this idiot onto the crime scene? Take him outta here immediately!"

Sirus growled, walking straight up to the officer, he looked him straight in the eye. He balled up his fist and plastered him clean on the muzzle, sending him reeling on the ground. "I AM CAPTAIN ARES OF THE AIRFORCE AND I DEMAND AN EXPLANATION RIGHT NOW!" Hell's fury burned in his natural eye, and his robotic attempted a pale imitation of the emotion as well. The buzzing atmosphere stopped for a moment as they stared at the scene that had just occurred. They then began back to their appointed tasks as quickly as if nothing had happened. Sirus simply muttered in anguish, "Morons…"

"Excuse me sir, may I ask who you are?" A polite officer came up and began trying to talk to Sirus. He seemed a bit nervous, glancing at the previous officer Sirus had knocked out.

"The fact that I just shouted who I am a few seconds ago makes me wonder if you are DEAF!" Sirus barked, although he was trying his best to calm down, "Now . . . just tell me, who the hell do you think you are and how on earth did you get clearance to even touch this property?"

"There's been a murder sir." The policeman said, trying not to enrage the high-ranking airman further, "We are just here to do our job."

"What murder, tell me everything that's happened now!" The wolf barked again, this time with concern but not anger, "Who did it? What happened?"

"Well, according to our preliminary analysis, it seems that a former CIA agent and a resident of this house had an argument of sorts, and it broke out into a gunfight." The policeman answered, "The former agent died upon our arrival, and the resident is wounded. I don't know how he survived with chest wounds like that, but he did. . ."

"Where is he now? I need to see my son!" Sirus asked urgently, picking the police officer up by the collar and shaking him profusely.

"Everyone involved has been transported to the hospital Sir . . ." The helpless policeman replied, "We are just here to collect evidence. . ."

"Well, you guys better get your hides out of here because this is government property. You don't even have to clearance to touch anything. And I seriously advise you to block all media before military action is taken." Sirus continued, pulling out a cell phone from his pocket. Without wasting another second, he dialed a call to Obsidian.

"Rocky, get your hide home this instant and deal with these cops!" Sirus barked into the phone before he could hear his brother's faint "Chief Ares speaking . . ."

"Don't worry, I am on my way." Obsidian replied casually, "Head to the hospital, Dr. Zenotabi is already there."

"You could have called me if something THIS big happened, don't you think?" Sirus answered as he ran towards his Wolfen. He wasn't exactly impressed by the CIA's rapid processing speed, since he was more concerned about the safety of his son more than anything else.

"Damon is alright, he is a tough kid." Obsidian replied without answering Sirus' question, "I'll meet you at the hospital once I take care of the cops. Talk to you later."

"The chief of CIA will arrive shortly, so I strongly advice you and your little squad to hold up whatever you are doing until he gets here." Sirus said ask calmly as he could, his eyes still burning with frustration and anger, "Understand?"

The canine policeman nodded nervously, but he made no attempt to stop his fellow comrades because it was not in his power to do so. "I'll try Sir."

"Well try harder, fool." Sirus spat in the policeman's face. With a fluid, single motion, the large lupine boarded his Wolfen. Putting on his headset, the disgruntled wolf shouted. "Cody! Patrick! There has been a change of plans, meet me at the Cornerian Hospital ASAP!"


"Pat! Can't you just leave poor Dr. Zenotabi alone for ten minutes?" Cody scolded at his little brother, who had been buzzing around the famous rat doctor ever since the two met. "You are too young to be meddling with these affairs anyway!"

"Let him be, Cody." Obsidian took a break from his work and looked up from his computer screen. He had been toiling over a three dimensional crime scene model that the CIA had produced, attempting to analyze every square inch of the model, "Believe it or not, Patrick is helping."

"See? This is why nerds are cooler than pilots." Patrick said teasingly to his older brother, "Right Doctor?"

"This isn't good . . ." Dr. Zenotabi shook his head gravely. "All of the evidence points directly towards Damon. There isn't much I can do unless we find some new evidence."

"But you know that Damon didn't do it, don't you Doc?" Sirus asked, his concern ever-growing. "The kid won't hurt a fly!"

"Sirus, you have to consider that Damon had been trained as an assassin. Not only so, but this isn't the first time that Damon had killed . . ." Zenotabi continued, "I just checked his brain for any CIIs, but I didn't find any. Besides the fact that Damon said he doesn't remember anything, we have no other proof that he didn't kill Chad."

"But, as you have said, if Damon was to actually kill someone, why would he get into such a big mess?" Sirus asked, "He is a trained professional, it doesn't make sense for him to get shot in the process of killing someone."

"Well, there are lots of things that don't make sense at all." Zenotabi sighed. "There are lots of questionable points in this case, but there is no solid proof that someone else did it. Damon would have to spend at least three years in jail, if not more."

"Between the challenge note that we found on Chad's body and the well known relationship between Chad and Damon at the CIA, I would say five years." Obsidian added. "There must be a flaw somewhere in this . . ."

"Oh I know. . ." Patrick trailed off as he approached the black-furred wolf. Without even asking, the young lizard took the computer from Obsidian and began to input commands on the keyboard with lightning speed. "Hmm, I've seen stuff like this before . . . Right . . . Hmm . . . yep . . ."

"Patrick, perhaps you should tell me what you are doing?" Obsidian said, obviously not very found of the young lizard's behavior. However, he knew better not to underestimate the lizard's intelligence. In fact, within the short time of their encounter, Obsidian already figured out that Patrick was someone who was on par, if not more intelligent than he was.

"Just writing a few scripts to make your life easier, give me a few seconds." Patrick replied, not even bothering to look up at the wolf. Suddenly, the lizard shoved the computer back into Obsidian's hands with a big grin on his face. "There we go. The yellow lines are the natural paths of the shots according to the height of Chad and Damon. The white lines are the actual paths of the shots. Peculiar, don't you think?"

"No way . . ." Obsidian took a glance at the screen, before looking up Patrick, "How do you know stuff like this?"

"Oh, it's just common knowledge. I must have read it somewhere." The lizard replied with a smile, "Does it help?"

"You like meddling with stuff, don't you?" Obsidian said with a wink to Patrick, "Well, congrats on finding the first piece of evidence that is supporting Damon's side. You did well kid."

"Well, I noticed it when I first saw your model . . . It didn't really look right, so I decided to check it out." Patrick said with a small yawn. He took a glance at his watch and let out a gasp, "Oh my, it's getting rather late. . . I have school tomorrow too."

"No you don't kid." Dr. Zenotabi said, finally breaking into their conversation, "How about spending a day with me and Rocky tomorrow? I am sure you're bored to death by your schoolwork."

"Sure, as long as you take care of the attendance folks." Patrick replied. "Cody will take care of Mom and Dad for my anyways, right Cody?"

"Yeah, the rest of the blame goes to me, so he is good to go." Cody replied with a faint smile. He had done little more than sitting around and visiting Damon periodically for the whole evening. "As long as he is helping, I don't see why not."

"Well, I do have an idea of sorts . . ." Patrick spoke quietly, eying the surrounding people. "Can't you just do the same thing you did to Cody to Chad? Or just . . . Perhaps, use a Krazoa Spirit to speak to him?"

"Well . . ." Zenotabi was awestruck by the young one's ability to hypothesize. "I . . . We can't do what you suggested."

"Why not Doctor?" Sirus questioned, "I would do anything to get Damon out of this mess."

"I cannot risk revealing the powers of the Krazoa to the rest of the world." Zenotabi explained, "And even if I managed to get the truth from Chad, how am I going to use it to support this case? Say to the court that Chad's ghost spoke to us?"


"Sirus Ares, how long were you planning on keeping this from us!" A voice sternly said, everyone turned around to see the McCloud family entering the small room. Krystal carried Cory, and Fox held Clare. "When was anyone planning to let me know that not only was one of my teammates AND good friends was injured."

Sirus just stared with mouth agape, "Fox, I'm sorry…" he looked down at his boots, "I wasn't thinking, I just got so wrapped up in what's been happening I forgot to let you know as well…"

Fox continued to glare, showing the hurt he was feeling, "I care about my team, when one of them is suffering, or in trouble, I want to be there. It hurts me deeply when I'm the last to know about something that affects me greatly." Fox set Clare down, "Would you like to know who finally told me Damon was injured?"

Sirus looked up, "Who?"

"MY SON!" Fox raised his voice significantly, emphasizing the irony, "You don't know how horrible I felt when my son took me to the TV, saying they were talking about Star Fox, only to find out that some sort of murder had taken place." Fox tried to compose himself, "I care about Damon just as much as you do, I don't want to see him suffering."

Sirus looked down again, "Fox, I'm sorry…"

Patrick, who had been standing in awe during the entire scene spoke up, "OH MY GOSH," he said, unable to control his voice, "IT'S FOX McCLOUD!"

Cody put his hand on his younger brother's shoulder, "Pat, now isn't a good time buddy." Cody directed them back to the model, letting everyone else have their peace to discuss their personal matters.

"Listen Sirus, I'm sorry I yelled. But I don't like being the last to know, especially when I am the leader." Fox held out his hand, "What can I do to help?"

Zenotabi directed him over to the computer, "Come, little Damon seems to have landed himself into another large mess. One I'm not quite sure he can relieve himself from."

Fox nodded, "Let me get the rest of my support in. Come on in team!" Through the door walked Admiral Pepper, Slippy, Peppy and even ROB. The only member of the team missing was Falco.

"I must say, that was perfect timing." Pepper nodded with a faint smile. The hound was more worn and wizened by time since everyone had last seen him, "Although, I am not exactly part of your team."

Sirus smiled, "Thank you everyone. Please, we have to save Damon."

Slippy jumped, "Let's get to work then!"

Krystal tapped her husband on the shoulder, "Will you watch the little ones, I'd like to visit Damon."

Fox nodded, "Of course honey, send him my regards, tell him we're working our hardest to help him." Fox took Cory out of his wife's hands, and kissed her on the cheek.

Krystal the turned to Zenotabi, "Doctor, where is Damon at?"

The rat turned and smiled, "Same room as always, I'm about to turn it into his personal suite."

"He does seem to get hurt a lot." Krystal giggled and turned to leave.

Zenotabi grabbed Krystal's wrist and pulled her back, whispering urgently in her ear, "Mrs. McCloud, I urge you to do nothing to upset the boy. All jokes aside he's very unstable. I'm sure you know all this, but please, be gentle with him. He's nearing his breaking point…"

Krystal smiled sweetly and brushed the doctor's hair out of his eyes. He was obviously worried, everyone was, "I know, just give me some time alone with him. I'd like to speak with him privately."

Zenotabi raised an eyebrow, "Oh, is there a specific reason?"

"I would just like to speak with him alone; he hasn't had much of a female influence in his life, and I just think he could use a little feminine support." Krystal said.

"I suppose that's a good idea. I'm glad he has at least one parental figure to attach himself too. If he didn't have Sirus I think that the boy would have gone mad a long time ago." Zenotabi said, "Just be careful with your approach. If he asks about the situation, try to keep things hopeful for him.

"I know Doctor, I'll do my best." Krystal turned and left the door, quickly jogging off to wherever Damon was located.

"Alright, since we have quite a few people here, we might as well split up into groups." Obsidian suggested, "Slippy, Patrick, you two and I will work on the crime scene model. Fox, you can go with Sirus and Cody to the crime scene for a closer investigation, the model that I have here might be missing stuff. As for the older ones . . ."

"We'll make ourselves useful at the morgue." Dr. Zenotabi finished, "The dead may speak afterall . . . if you know what I mean."


Krystal crept through the dimly lit halls of the hospital. It was strangely quiet; all of the patients were sound asleep in their rooms. She came to Damon's room and gently opened the door, trying to best not to rouse anyone. She saw Damon lying prostrate in his bed; a soft blue glow tinted his fur from a television set. His eyes were fixated on the screen. Krystal glanced at the screen and watched news about the murder and the upcoming investigation. Krystal could see tears in Damon's eyes; she pulled up a chair by his beside and took the remote from his hand. She turned the television off. The only light that filtered into the room now was a silver wisp of light from the full moon.

Krystal smiled and stroked Damon's forehead, "So what did you do this time tough guy?"

Damon turned his head away, avoiding Krystal's eyes, "I didn't do it…" Damon cried softly.

"We know you didn't Damon, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you." Krystal kissed his forehead, "Give us a smile?" she asked coyly.

Damon didn't say anything; he merely whimpered and tilted his head further away from Krystal.

"Oh Damon, please forgive me. I didn't mean it, I was merely trying to cheer you up." Krystal said.

"It's not you Mrs. Krystal," Damon softly said, "This is my fault, it's all my fault. I wished Chad would die, and now he has."

"Well, did you kill him?" Krystal asked.

"I . . . I don't know! I just heard someone ring the doorbell, so I opened the door." Damon whimpered, "And the next thing I knew the medics were carrying me to the hospital on a stretcher."

"It's okay Damon, I believe you. I wasn't questioning you…" She stroked the stressed hybrid's arm.

"I just…I just…I…I don't know!" Damon wailed.

"Damon, please quiet down sweetie," Krystal said in a soothing voice, "Just calm down, it's going to be all right. Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?"

Damon stared at Krystal with his tear soaked eyes. A blush started to form on his face and he turned away, "No…" he moaned softly.

"I'll do just about anything for you Damon. Don't be afraid to ask Damon, it's just us. You don't need to feel embarrassed. Nothing you say will leave this room. Now what can I do?" Krystal said, continuing to stroke his arm comfortingly.

He looked unsure, "Well, I just…" then he firmly said, "NO!" the blush deepened, "…no…" he finished weakly. He sniffled sadly, turning his head more to hide his face.

"I bet I know what it is." Krystal said with a wink.

"You do?" Damon said nervously, his head titling back in Krystal's direction.

Krystal giggled, "Yup, I think I know exactly what you want." Damon whimpered, "There's a girl, isn't there?"

Damon slightly nodded, "Well…kinda…"

"Oh come on, won't you tell me? I'm sure you'll feel better if you get it off your chest." Krystal said soothingly.

Damon blushed madly, "Well, you see…there's this girl at work. But I can never talk to her. Every time I got near I would blush, and she'd see me and giggle."

Krystal smiled, "Oh you were just being nervous, Fox was the same way when we first met. He would blush and stutter and everything. The whole team use to get a good laugh out of it too. When you ask a girl out, just go ahead and ask. The worst thing they can say is "get lost", but that seldom happens."

"I have the feeling that it would happen to me if I ask . . ." Damon replied, "And now everyone knows I am a eunuch . . . on top of that, now this . . . She'll never go near me!"

"Oh Damon, you can't think like that, you must be positive. Otherwise you're going to fear her all your life," Krystal coached, "True love won't care about faults, the person you love will care about whom you are on the inside."

"Do you think I could ever find someone like that Mrs. Krystal." Damon asked hopefully.

Krystal ruffled his fur softly, "Of course you can, you silly guy, there is someone out there who's supposed to be Mrs. Damon Ares."

"I dunno, is there really a girl out there who I could make as happy as you make Fox?" Damon asked softly.

"Yes Damon, I think you'll know when that person comes along." Krystal smiled at him sweetly.

Damon began to blush again, "Mrs. Krystal, can I ask you something…rather personal…"

Krystal nodded, "Of course, what is it?"

Damon blushed deeply, "Well…what was it like…when you and Fox…first…k-kissed?"

"Well…ummm…it was very lovely." Krystal said, obviously embarrassed.

"Well, I just wanted to know…" Damon whimpered, "I want to know what it's like. I want to know what passionate love is…"

Krystal smiled, a slight blush beginning to radiate on her own cheeks, "Well, that's just something that comes with experience."

"Mrs. Krystal…if…if I were Fox…how would you kiss me?" Damon's yes sparkled with innocence, he whimpered, soft but with a hint of longing and sadness.

Krystal looked at him, realizing the true intentions behind this sudden interest in her relationship. But she smiled gently, "Well Damon, let me show you…" She smiled and bent low over his bed. Her head soon hovered half a hair's length away. She blew into his nose softly, watching for his reaction. The innocence in his eyes suddenly turned into doubt, he began shaking like a leaf. She brought her hand up to his cheek, steadying him, reassuring him. He merely melted into her grip, submitting to her superior knowledge, and her tender care. She finally closed the gap and locked lips with him. Damon's eyes opened again and he shuffled about in the bed, but then relaxed. His eyes fluttered closed, as if he were beginning to fall asleep. He let out a soft moan of content, laying in a state of complete ecstasy. After a few more moments Krystal broke lips with him and sat upright again. She smiled at him sweetly, waiting to see what his reaction would be. He continued to lay there, as if he had been lulled to sleep. She spoke softly, "That was your first kiss, wasn't it Damon?"

Damon merely nodded, refusing to open his eyes for fear it was some dream, "I'm sorry…"

Krystal stroked the hybrid's cheek, "Don't be, I understand why you did it."

"You do?" Damon said peacefully.

"Yes, I can tell you've had a bit of a crush on me. I figured it was just puppy love. You just wanted someone to care for you, am I right?" Krystal asked.

Damon began to blush again, "You were the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. I know how Fox felt when he first saw you. But it was more than that. You were so gentle, so kind to me. The only other person to show me that kind of love was Wolf."

"Thank you, I'm very flattered. You know, Fox told me the very same thing on our first date." Krystal smiled. "And I'm glad I could make you feel at home."

Damon sank into the bed further, looking content, "I hope you two lead a happy life." Damon yawned, "Thanks for understanding, I think I'm beginning to understand what love can be."

"I'm glad," Krystal chuckled, "I think this is the happiest I've seen you in a long time. Damon, I really think you were meant to be in love. You always seem happiest when you're with someone who cares about you. You're going to make one girl very happy someday."

"I hope so…" Damon said softly, thoughts of his problems slowly beginning to slip back in his mind. He had hoped the moment of passion would last longer, but fear and doubt were beginning to become prevalent again.

"Go to sleep, we're working our hardest for you, the best you can do right now is rest and get better. We'll find someway out of this." Krystal said, once again she bent low and kissed his forehead.

Damon nodded and slowly allowed himself to drift to sleep. The moonlight played across his fur, making it appear as if he had silver dew on top of him. She stood up and walked out of the room when she was sure he was finally asleep. When she opened the door however she found another surprise. Fox was leaning on the opposite wall, smiling roguishly.

"Cheating on me with little Damon? For shame." Fox said with a wink.

Krystal smiled, relieved he wasn't angry, "I was just trying to make him happy love. You know I would never leave you, and Damon respects our relationship. He was simply curious, that's all."

Fox walked over and hugged her closely, "I know Krys, I know…it was a really sweet thing you did for him. It's a rare occasion Damon gets to be truly happy. I think you gave him a little bit of peace tonight."

Krystal frowned, nuzzling into Fox's chin, "I just wonder how long it will last."

"I feel the worst is yet to come, I think we still have some dark times ahead…" Fox said sadly. "It may be just me . . . but I think Leon is behind all this."

"I was thinking about that too . . . We know he is still out there somewhere. I just hope we'll find some evidence soon." Krystal whispered, "If we don't Damon will have to go to jail for something that he didn't do."

"I don't think there are a lot of people who are in a serious grudge against Damon and Sirus. Leon seems to be the only one that comes to mind when I think about it. . ." Fox continued, "And even if it's him, he must have done this for a reason. It's not like him to do something like this . . ."

"You are right . . . he would have killed Damon if he had the chance." Krystal answered, "Leon isn't the type that would kill people then let the blame go on Damon. He is more of the type that would break into the house and wreck havoc . . . just like . . ."

"Yeah, I know, just like what he did to Bill." Fox sighed. Every time his best friend's name was mentioned, his heart would ache slightly. "If it was Leon who did all this, he must have major reason to do it . . . maybe a plot of some sort that would affect more than just Damon."

"Fox, relax honey . . ." Krystal threw her arms around herhusband's neck, "Let's concentrate on one thing at the time, okay?"

"And where is that Falco when you need him?" Fox questioned, "How are we a team when we don't even work together?"

"Complaining isn't going to help, honey." Krystal taped Fox cutely on the nose, "Falco would have come, but he got an important holographic conversation with someone. I didn't want to disturb him, you know."


"Falco, my dear rival, long time no see." Leon's hologram came up on Falco's personal hologram display. Apparently his new face was good enough to escape ROB's judgment. Since his line was secure, there was no need for the lizard to fear intervention of the other members of StarFox.

"Who the . . ." Falco started, but within minutes he realized the truth, "Leon?"

"Good, you are still sharp enough." Leon continued, "What do you say . . . shall we find some time to settle some of our . . . unsettled business? I am sure you've been waiting for such a chance for a long time."

"I take that as a challenge." Falco replied, "Date, time, location."

"Tomorrow, two a.m., meet me at the abandoned warehouse three blocks east of central park." Leon answered, "Oh yeah, I would prefer to fight you alone . . . if you don't mind, that is."

"Quit your small talk, I know the rules." Falco replied stolidly, "But no matter, trap or no trap, you are dead."

"I'd watch out if I were you." Leon laughed, "Just remember, you are up against your arch-nemesis. I would hate to kill you when your guard is down, bird."