Castillo Manor

The sounds of a vehicle engine caught the attention of the Venomian soldiers guarding the manor's gate. They soon saw the hovercar barreling towards them at high speed and opened fire.

But despite their efforts, the vehicle still plowed into the gate and exploded, killing and maiming the nearby guards.

"Let's go!" Krystal called out to the others.

Aside from the cobalt vixen, there was also almost every other member of Star Fox and Star Wolf. They all charged towards the wrecked gate, gunning down shocked and dying Venomians.

However, the commotion attracted the attention of the other Remnant troopers in and around the mansion. They quickly scrambled to take up defensive positions in the front yard.

While everyone else had opted for weapons beamed in by ROB, generally Cornerian issue rifles and carbines with some exceptions, Krystal stuck with her staff and blaster. She quickly lifted the latter and put a Remnant trooper down with a headshot. The vixen then planted her staff in the ground and threw up a barrier, allowing the others to take cover behind a fountain.

Unfortunately, the mercenaries now found themselves caught in a crossfire between a machine gun positioned on a balcony and another in an outbuilding.

"Damn." Peppy grumbled, "These guys are way more competent than Oikonny's soldiers."

"Those machine guns must be a new design. I can't even hear the gap between shots." Fay added.

Krystal meanwhile, scanned with her telepathy and determined that the machine gunners on the balcony had a blind spot that she could use to sneak forward.

"Give me some cover." she told the others.

"Got it." Miyu replied before using a grenade launcher to fire smoke rounds while everyone else laid down covering fire.

Krystal let out a breath and then dashed from cover, running in a crouch. The cobalt vixen soon found herself looking at the pillars holding the balcony up.

Holstering her blaster, Krystal took her staff in both hands and fired an ice beam at the pillars, freezing them solid. She then jumped backwards and brought her weapon down in a quakeslam.

The shockwaves shattered the frozen supports and brought down the balcony and the machine gun crew. After walking up and stabbing a surviving Venomian through the chest with the sharp end of her staff, Krystal mentally signaled to Falco.

"Take out that other nest!"

"Right away, Krys." the avian replied as he readied the rocket launcher slung across his back.

After a barrage of covering fire from the others, Falco took aim and fired a rocket at the outbuilding. The shack was consumed in a massive fireball and debris was scattered across the yard.

"Got'ch ya!"

"Keep moving forward!" Krystal called out.

As the members of Star Fox and Star Wolf began entering the mansion, a different scene was playing out on the cliffs of the Dasypus Peninsula.

Wolf used his claws to get a handhold on the rocky cliffs and listened to the sounds of gunfire.

"Looks like the diversion is working." he called down to Fox, Carmen, and Slippy.

From there, the quartet climbed further up until they were just below the cliff edge. They listened for the sounds of voices or footsteps. Hearing nothing, Wolf cautiously peered up over the edge.

Looking both with and without night and thermal vision revealed that there were no guards at the back of the house.

"We're clear. Let's go."

The quartet climbed up and ran towards the mansion in a low sprint. They used the hedges in the rear yard as cover before running past a swimming pool and up to the back door.

From there, Carmen picked the lock, allowing the group to enter the mansion.

"Alright, let's find out where this jammer is." Fox said.

Slippy responded by taking out a datapad.

"The signal seems to be coming from the basement."

Carmen brought up the mansion's blueprints on her wristcom and frowned.

"I don't like this." she said while shaking her head, "Only one way in or out. Good spot for an ambush."

Wolf walked up and set a reassuring hand on the dingo's shoulder

"Between the noise the others are making and what me and Fox are gonna do, you guys should be just fine."

Smiling confidently, Carmen replied, "Okay. I guess this is where we split up."

"Looks to be that way."

The two canines leaned in and kissed. Slippy was about to groan "Get a room." but was stopped by a gentle elbow in the ribs from Fox.

As the group split off into pairs, Wolf suddenly felt the urge to tell Carmen something.

"Carmen."

She turned and looked over her shoulder.

"Yeah, Wolf?"

It was on the tip of his tongue, but Wolf couldn't bring himself to say it. So, he settled for something else.

"Good luck."

With a raised eyebrow, the dingo replied, "You too, Wolf."

As they went their separate ways, Wolf did his best to ignore the curious look Fox was giving him. After the pair of them took up positions beside a door, the vulpine finally spoke.

"I know what you really wanted to tell her, Wolf."

The lupine shook his head and let out a huff.

"This is not the time or the place, pup. Things are hard enough as is."

Fox shrugged.

"Yeah, I used to think that too. It's what kept me from telling Krystal for so long. But when I finally did spit it out, I found it made things a lot easier."

Seeing Wolf's unimpressed expression, Fox continued.

"Look, I'm not telling you what to do, Wolf. But if you get another chance, tell her how you feel."

Flipping his lens to thermal vision, Wolf conceded, "Maybe you're right, Fox."

Seeing a small squad of Venomians on the other side, Wolf readied a grenade and signalled Fox to crack the door open. The vulpine did as he was told, opening the door just enough for Wolf to chuck the explosive into the next room.

Quickly shutting the door, the two canids heard a deafening bang and screams of pain. They then burst through the door and finished off the survivors.

Hearing more footfalls, Wolf and Fox took aim and gunned down a pair of Venomian soldiers that rounded the corner ahead.

"Come on, Fox." Wolf said with a toothy grin, "Let's go bag us a Marshal."

Elsewhere

Within his office, Marshal Koates gazed at a holographic display of his mansion, yellow dots showing his soldiers and red dots showing those meddlesome mercenaries.

"What are their numbers?" he spoke into his wristcom.

"Sir, we count seven members of Star Fox and two members of Star Wolf. No signs of McCloud, O'Donnell, Toad, or Sanders."

As Koates thought on that, another pair of red dots appeared on the map. They seemed to be headed towards his office. It didn't take the armadillo long to piece things together, and his suspicions were only confirmed when his wristcom blared.

"Sir, we've got eyes on O'Donnell and McCloud!"

"Hold them off." Koates ordered and turned to the five men in the room with him.

Highlighting the other dots on the map, the Marshal said, "These are diversions. Wilkeson, Pyle, Bandera, go engage the leaders. Varner, Rossington, take a squad to the basement."

"Yes sir." they all replied and left the room.

Glancing back at the map, Koates mused, "I've got you by the balls now, vermin."

Elsewhere

Krystal took aim with her blaster and put a couple shots into the chest of a Remnant trooper on an upper floor, causing him to fall over the banister and to the main floor.

But more of them continued to appear, something that did not go unnoticed by the squad, which consisted of Krystal, Fara, Amanda, Fay, and Leon. The others had gone to the mansion's east wing.

"Geez, there's no end to these guys." Fara commented while reloading.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Leon chimed in.

The squad continued to fire at the Venomians, though Krystal began to sense from them that someone from her past was in the vicinity.

"Valen."

Taking note of a side hall just ahead of their position, Krystal got the attention of the others.

"I'm going after Valen. Cover me." she explained.

That earned her incredulous looks from the others, aside from Leon.

"Krystal, stop!" Fara protested, "You're gonna get yourself killed."

Meeting the fennec's gaze, Krystal retorted, "I know what I'm doing, Fara. I've been in fucking life-or-death situations before. I'm not stupid!"

Seeing that she hadn't convinced the older fox, the cobalt vixen stated, "You would do the same if you were in my place."

Fara looked down and shook her head.

"Alright. Let's give her some covering fire."

"I'm one step ahead." Leon said as he tossed a pair of smoke grenades towards the Venomian positions.

As the others layed down covering fire, Krystal vaulted over her cover and ran forward in a low sprint before ducking down the hallway.

"I'm coming for you, Valen. You just fucking wait!"

Elsewhere

Carmen and Slippy entered the lowest part of the mansion. The dingo's ears twitched at the sounds of electric humming.

"Do you hear that?"

"Yeah." the amphibian replied, "We must be close."

The two of them advanced through the basement, weapons raised. After going through a couple of doors, they soon found themselves gazing at a pylon of power coils with an antenna on top.

"That's it!" Slippy exclaimed.

"Let's get to work." Carmen said as she slung her rifle.

Removing a panel on the side of the jammer revealed the wiring. Slippy was about to snip one when Carmen grabbed his arm.

"Slip, look."

The dingo gingerly reached in and showed Slippy another wire connected to what appeared to be a glass ball with a spring inside.

"Oh." the toad said as a bit of sweat gathered on his brow.

"It's fine, Slippy. Just be careful."

From there, the two of them snipped wires until the jammer fell silent. Both of them took a moment to run a hand over their brows.

"Okay, let's go." Carmen said after they had finished.

As they left the jammer behind, though not before Carmen left an explosive in the wiring panel, Slippy brought up his wristcom and contacted the Great Fox II.

"ROB, contact General Pepper."

"Affirmative."

A few seconds passed, and then,

"Unable to contact CDF High Command. Heavy electronic interference."

Both Slippy and Carmen stopped in their tracks.

"What?!" they both exclaimed.

"Repeat: Unable to contact CDF High Command. Heavy electronic interference."

"No, this can't be right. We scanned the whole planet." Slippy sputtered.

Carmen meanwhile, looked upwards and caught sight of Thayern through a skylight.

"What about the moon?"

Slippy raised an eyebrow at the dingo.

"No way, we would have picked something up on the ship's scanners."

Carmen shook her head.

"If Oikonny was still in charge, I would agree with you. Unfortunately, we're dealing with someone far smarter and more competent than he could ever hope to be."

Seeming to take her point, Slippy sighed, "Maybe you're right."

But before either of them could take any action, Remnant troopers burst through the door ahead of them. Carmen and Slippy raised their weapons, but it was clear that they were outnumbered and outgunned.

"You would be wise to surrender." said a brown furred vulpine in casual clothes,"It's not like you've got anywhere to run."

"Like hell!" Slippy retorted, "I'm not getting captured by you creeps again!"

"Slippy." Carmen said calmly, but firmly, "We can't help the others if we're dead."

Slippy looked between Carmen and the Venomians as his inner conflict played out on his face. Finally, the toad muttered "Damn it." and lowered his weapon.

Both him and Carmen set their guns on the floor and raised their hands. Grinning wickedly, the brown vulpine ordered, "Lace your hands behind your heads."

After they obeyed, the fox gestured towards them with his blaster.

"Cuff em and search em."

A group of Remnant troopers walked forward and cuffed Slippy and Carmen's hands behind their backs, as well as removing their blasters and wristcoms, crushing the latter under their boots.

Carmen grit her teeth as the Venomians patted her down. A couple of them were taking the chance to feel her up, though there was nothing she could do about it.

But her attention was brought forward by a canine steeping past the Remnant troopers and standing beside the fox. Carmen's mouth fell open and her breath caught in her throat as she looked into his hazel eyes.

"Richard?"

Yet even in her shock at seeing her husband alive and in the flesh, Carmen still managed to piece everything together fairly quickly. Her shock gave way to anger, and the dingo curled her muzzle back into a snarl.

"You Son Of A Bitch!" she screamed, "I loved you! And all that time, you were somebody else!"

"I could say the same about you, Carmen." Richard coldly replied.

Glaring daggers at the black furred German Shepherd, Carmen suddenly thought of something.

"If he's alive, than maybe…"

Taking a breath and collecting herself, Carmen asked, "Richard, is Ryan, well is he…"

There was a notable change in Richard's demeanour, one that gave Carmen a bad feeling. Nonetheless, she pressed on.

"Please, Richard. Tell me that he's still alive."

The canine frowned and flattened his ears.

"I wish I could."

Those four words were enough to break Carmen's heart all over again. The tears she had been holding back now flowed freely and a lump formed in her throat.

Carmen didn't even fight as the Venomians began muscling her and Slippy forward.

Elsewhere

Wolf gunned down a Venomian soldier and heard his rifle click empty. Thinking quickly, the lupine drew his blaster and put down two more troopers as they popped up from cover.

As Wolf ducked behind a metal crate to reload, Fox tossed a grenade at the Venomians and then opened fire on them after the explosion, cutting down three of them.

"You know, pup." Wolf remarked as he slapped a fresh power pack into his rifle, "We make a pretty good team."

"No argument here." Fox replied.

The two mercenaries gunned down the remaining Remnant troopers and advanced through the mansion, soon coming upon another prepared position. Fox and Wolf hurled grenades at the enemy defences and took cover behind columns.

Yet it seemed to the two that the Venomians were constantly reinforcing this position instead of pulling back.

"They're sure getting bold." Fox commented as he leaned out and fired a burst at the Remnant troopers.

"You got that right."

The two mercenary leaders' suspicions were confirmed when a Komodo dragon and a mountain gorilla arrived, both carrying the new rotary guns that Star Wolf had seen in the warehouse.

They opened fire, forcing the two canines into cover. The rate of fire was so intense that neither Fox nor Wolf could take a return shot without risking getting perforated with lasers.

Then all of a sudden, the gunfire stopped, and a voice Wolf knew from Sargasso called out.

"Hey scumbags, we've got your pals."

"Go fuck yourself, Bandera." Wolf muttered as he peered around the pillar.

True to the simian's word, Carmen and Slippy stood in front of the Venomians, hands cuffed behind their backs. Worse still, the Komodo dragon stood behind them and aimed his weapon.

"You'd better surrender, or else your friends are gonna end up with more holes than a piece of Fichinan cheese!"

Wolf growled and exchanged a look with Fox. It was clear to both of them that they could not fight their way out of this without getting Slippy and Carmen killed.

Reluctantly, the two of them tossed their weapons aside and raised their hands. As the Venomian soldiers cuffed Wolf and removed his sidearm and wristcom, he finally got a good look at Carmen.

The dingo's brown eyes were red rimmed, and gray trails ran down her face from tears. It was then that Wolf saw the black furred German Shepherd and immediately recognized him from Carmen's photo.

Looking back at Carmen, Wolf suddenly realized what was wrong with her.

"Carmen. I am so sorry."

Meanwhile, Bandera walked up to Fox and decked him across the face.

"That's for my buddies at Sargasso!"

"You should have fessed up about Pigma, jackass!" the vulpine retorted.

Elsewhere

Marshal Koates brought his attention away from the hologram of his mansion in order to answer his wristcom.

"Yes?"

"Sir, it's Private Pyle. We have O'Donnell, McCloud, Sanders, and Toad in custody."

"Good. Bring them to my office."

"Yes sir. Pyle out."

Glancing towards the bust of Andross, Koates remarked, "First the parents, and now the son."

A wicked grin spread across the armadillo's face.