Andross has been defeated and the war is over. Or it at least looks that way. What do I mean exactly? You'll have to read this chapter to find out.

Janus - I remember that horrid line from SF64 and vowed to never, ever use it in my writing. I still shudder at the horrible pun whenever I hear it. As far as the Nova Bomb thought goes though, the scene just appeared in my head when I wrote it. As I know of the details of the Manhatton Project, it could be where my mind got it from, but I didn't realize it at the time.


Chapter 42: The Party

I can't believe it, the war is finally over. We've won. We've actually won. Andross is dead. – Fox

Wow. Just…wow. I don't know if it was luck or skill, but the war is over. Peace returns, all thanks to Fox and the team. – Fara

Damn it! Another battle that somehow I missed. And this one ended the war. There better be some dancing squirrels back home in payment. – Falco

Revenge has been served. The pain and punishment that Fox has lived through all these years has hopefully come to an end. – Peppy

Now I understand why Fox and Falco enjoy covert missions so much. Too bad I won't get another chance with the war's end. – Slippy

Compared to what had occurred in the last few hours, the flight home was extremely dull. The pilots spent the time chatting amongst themselves, Fox and Fara taking center stage as they described what had happened. The others listened intently, wanting to know every detail of Andross' destruction.

Afterwards, the team sat back and partied in their own ways, letting out their pent up energy. While the celebration in their honor was close at hand, the entire team was simply too excited for their own good. Fox remembered how good of a mood they were in when they won their first battle. This was exactly like that, only amplified a dozen times.

Eventually, he grew tired of the chatter between his teammates. After telling them to quiet down, he muted his radio and closed his eyes. He knew that he wouldn't be getting any sleep inside the confines of his Arwing, but he needed to be oblivious to the universe for just a bit longer. The rest of the day would be anything but silent, that much he knew.

"The rest of my life will be anything but quiet," he muttered as he resigned himself to his fate.


As expected, the entire staff of the base was on hand as the Arwings landed. From the relative silence from his craft, Fox eyed everyone and looked down at them with a smile. As much as he hated the attention, he now knew it was a necessary part about being a hero. He either had to live with it or simply get out of the profession. And it was just a bit too late for the latter.

He glanced at the rest of his team and wondered what was going through their minds. They were all still seated, cockpits closed, as if waiting for something. It quickly dawned on him based on their looks to him that they were all simply waiting for him to make the first move. Grinning at the honor, he told them, "Guys, I've been ordering you all around quite a bit these last few weeks. That's done now. However, I do have one last order – let's get out there and have some fun. And if the General wants my head, well, enjoy the rest of your lives."

The pilots laughed as Fox popped open the cockpit. The assembled crowd cheered a few times and then went silent as he vaulted to the ground below. Pepper emerged and slowly walked over as the rest of the team assembled behind the vulpine.

The canine had a look of disappointment as he looked down upon the pilots, his eyes drifting from person to person. They finally came to rest upon Fox, whose gaze he held for a few seconds before he closed his eyes with a sigh. "Junior, Junior, Junior… What am I going to do with you?"

He was afraid of this. "Sir?"

Pepper stared at him like he was boring into his soul. However, there seemed to be a twinkle in his eyes, a certain something he was keeping hidden. "Let me put it this way. You've somehow broken out of a prison cell, stolen an Arwing, used it to launch an unauthorized assault mission, risked the lives of your teammates, and worse of all, risked the lives and future of everybody in this system with your idiotic actions."

"I know."

"Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

A multitude of things to say passed through Fox's mind. Try as he might to say something else, he knew that there was only the one correct answer. "No, sir. I accept full responsibility for my and my team's actions. They were only following my orders."

"Do you take full responsibility on winning this war then?"

"Sir, I…" He quieted as he realized what he'd just heard. He then noticed the grin on Pepper's face, clearly showing that the gig was up. "No way in hell. I couldn't have done it without each and every one of them."

He reached forward and grasped one of Fox's paws in both of his and shook it vigorously. "I have no idea how you did it, and frankly, I don't care. You've done the impossible, Junior. You've won this war. The entire Lylat system holds you in a debt for your valiant efforts that can never be repaid. Congratulations."

The vulpine smiled. "Thank you."

Pepper turned around and bellowed out, "Let's hear it for the Starfox team!" A roar of support and approval echoed throughout the stone chamber. Not happy with what he heard, he raised his paws for a moment of silence. "I can't hear you!" A second roar reverberated through the room, far louder than the first.

The team beamed from the noise, knowing that the people here were as enthusiastic about the victory as the rest of the system. It made all the difficulties and hardships worth it. They'd be revered the rest of their lives.

They were heroes.


Afterwards, the team was all but dragged to the mess hall upstairs. From there the true celebration began. Drinks of any kind and description were available to those who wanted them. A few of the more musically inclined personnel took it upon themselves to break out some instruments from their rooms and started jamming.

The team became the center of the excitement as they sat down and talked about their final mission. Fox and Fara were the lead attraction as expected, describing every detail as they faced down Andross and the remainder of his forces. When they finished their story, the crowd broke into a cheer, this one amplified by their drink.

Afterwards, the staff broke up, dispersing into the rest of the mess hall as they continuously chanted the team's name. The pilots looked amongst themselves, smiles on their faces.

All except one. "Slippy, what's wrong?" asked Fox.

"I…I don't feel too good."

"You do look greener than usual," commented Falco half-drunkenly.

"Falco, please." Fox looked over his teammate, figuring it was a combination of the back-seat flying and the sudden partying that had done him in. "Go take a rest. We'll be fine."

"Thanks." He stood up unsteadily on his feet and held the table for balance. It looked like he'd topple over any moment.

Peppy moved to make sure that wouldn't happen. "I got you."

Fox jumped to his feet. "No, I'll—"

"You can't leave, Fox. You're the hero, remember?" He grinned. "Besides, I could use a break away from this commotion as well."

He nodded. "Okay. Come back soon."

"Will do."

The partying crowd parted for the pair, only watching them for a moment before going back to their celebrating. The pilots watched as well, worrying about their teammates. "I hope Slippy isn't getting sick again," said Fox.

"You didn't have to fly backseat with Peppy," commented Falco around his drink. "That'd get anyone sick."

Fox chuckled. "Yeah."

Fara continued watching the crowd. She thought she spotted a familiar pair in the back. "Guys, if you'll excuse me for a bit."

"You leaving too?" asked the vulpine.

She shook her head. "Na. I saw somebody I wanted to talk to." She grinned. "Don't worry, I'll be here incase Pepper decides to give out some award or something."

"Okay." Left alone, the two pilots picked up their glasses and clinked them together in a toast over their successes, glad to simply be alive.


Fara wandered through the crowd, nodding to those who congratulated her once again. She wished she could simply leave, as this mob of a crowd was not her style, but the fact that she'd saved the galaxy kept her around. Thankfully for her sanity, she noticed Miyu and Fay on the far side of the mess hall, away from most of the people.

"What's up, you two?" she asked with a smile as she took a seat.

"Enjoying the relative silence," replied Miyu. "Drink?"

"Had too much already."

"Nothing wrong with letting yourself go," joked Fay. "You've just saved the galaxy. Get plastered."

The vixen laughed. "And end up like how Falco will be shortly? No thanks."

"Good point."

Afterwards, the threesome just sat and chatted. From their point in the room they could sit and watch the staff wander to and fro, talking and drinking with one another. Not a care in the world was visible of their faces as all threat of the war had been eliminated with the team's victory.

Eventually she retold her story of what had happened during the final battle, but this time around she added in her personal thoughts, giving the story a whole new light for her friends. They discussed that as well as other things, the time passing quickly by.

Almost an hour had passed before she realized that she should return to her team. She figured that the media was going to be very interested in their exploits shortly and she wanted to know what Fox had planned to say. "Well, you two, it's been fun as always. I really should go back though."

"And leave us with this mob?" said Fay. "How nice of you."

She smiled. "Funny. I gotta talk to Fox about the media actually."

"A prudent plan of action," said Miyu.

"Before I go though, I want to thank you both for everything. Especially when you helped Fox out of—" She stopped suddenly and turned around in her chair. She stared at the partygoers as if trying to find something amid the cheering mass.

"Fara?" Fay's call of concern brought her spinning back to face the pair. "Are you okay?"

Fara's response was just as mysterious as her previous action. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"What's wrong, Fara?" asked Miyu kindly. She'd never seen her friend act this way before and it was quickly starting to worry her.

"I…I don't know." She looked around her nervously. She thought she heard Fox call out her name. But it sounded distant, as if he was much farther away than simply the other end of the room. "Something…is wrong. I don't know what. I gotta go."

The two looked at her with concern as she stood up and hurriedly walked off without another word. "Should we follow her?" asked Fay.

Miyu shook her head after a moment's thought. "No, let her be."

"What's wrong with her then?"

"If I didn't know her so well, I'd say something like post-war jitters or something. But she's not that kind of person."

"I'm worried."

"This base is one of the safest places on Corneria. Nothing is going to happen inside these walls."

Fay nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right."


Fara pushed her way through the throng of people, working her way back to where Fox and the team were. Squeezing her way past a dancing pair, she gasped as she found the table to be completely empty.

Standing up on one of the chairs, she looked around the room and tried to figure out where they were. After making a complete circle and getting a few curious glances her way in the process, she jumped back down far more worried than before.

The entire team was nowhere to be found.

Hoping that they simply moved up to the bar, Fara worked her way on over. She caught the attention of one of the bartenders with her frantic movements as she arrived. "Would you like a drink, Ms. Phoenix?"

"Where's Fox and Falco?"

He blinked in surprise at the question. "Oddly enough, both of them got calls a few minutes apart not too long ago. They ran off as soon as they got them."

"Thanks." She turned and left as fast as she could, shoving her way past anybody who got in her way. Something was wrong. Something was dreadfully wrong. She didn't know how or why, but she just knew it.

And it scared the hell out of her.


Once she broke free of the mob, she ran as fast as she could, her boots pounding hard on the carpeted hallway. She didn't pass a soul as she journeyed to the only place she could think of – her room. From there she could easily tap into the security system of the base and figure out where the rest of the team was.

Were they in trouble? Were they simply setting up their own personal party somewhere else? If it was the latter, why hadn't they talked to her yet? And how could anything happen inside the protective confines of the base? These and many other questions floated through her mind as the corridor passed by.

Breathing heavily, she finally came to her room. It only took a moment before she punched in the code to open the door and peered inside to make sure it was unoccupied before entering. She practically vaulted over the chair next to her computer as she was in so much of a hurry to find the information she needed.

She didn't get quite that far though.

As her fingers lay splayed to type in the commands to break into security, the screen changed and notified her that she had a call. She closed her eyes and tried to calm her racing heart before answering, incase something was wrong. The call wasn't from one of the normal rooms. And that worried her even more than she was now. "Fara here."

Fox's voice sprung to life over her speakers, relieving her somewhat. "Fara, it's Fox. Not in the mess hall anymore?"

Her mind raced as it tried to find an answer that would cover any situation. "I just stopped by my room to pick up something. What's up?"

"I need you to stop by our lounge as soon as you can."

"What's wrong?"

"I'll explain once you get here. Just hurry."

"Okay."

"Fox out."

She sat there and stared at the blank screen as the vulpine killed the communication. Something didn't seem right to her about the conversation, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She knew that the camera attached to the screen there broke a few days ago for some reason or another, so that wasn't it. Her original worries from before sprang up, and she knew she had to get to the bottom of whatever this was before she followed Fox's request.

Her fingers flew over the keyboard as she punched in the access codes to enter the security system. As soon as she had access, she pulled up the sensor logs and looked over the ones attached to the team's lounge. It didn't take long before the results scrolled by, showing that the team had entered the room, Peppy and Slippy at the same time, Falco about 15 minutes afterwards, and Fox another 10 after that. But it showed nobody leaving.

That didn't mean too much though. Digging deeper into the security protocols, she accessed the live camera feeds from around the base. While the rooms themselves didn't have anything installed in them, she knew the team's break area did have one in it.

Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw.

Slippy was standing there with his face taking up most of the camera's visual range, looking like he was trying to locate the hidden camera itself. That in itself wasn't too unusual. Just extremely strange though.

The unconscious forms of both Fox and Peppy in the corner of the image were anything but normal.

Her eyes shot wide open as she stared at the pair making sure of what she saw. They were both slumped to one side and clearly not awake to the world around them. Their paws were behind their backs out of sight, and she thought she saw some sort of cloth wrapped around their ankles, keeping them from moving even if they were alert.

Suddenly, Slippy reared back with his paw and slammed it into the screen. The image died instantly and brought a total silence to the room short of the pounding of her heart.

What could she do? What could she possibly do?

After a moment's thought, she knew one thing – she was the team's only chance. If security barged into that room, who knew what would happen. Did Slippy have a gun? Would he make sure that he took the team down before he died in a blaze of blaster fire? What possessed the toad to do this in the first place? What could he possibly want?

No matter what, her odds were going to be better than the rest of the team. Her advance information had insured her of that. In addition, she had a few surprises she was going to bring with her, something that the others didn't have.

She had to do one thing first though, incase she failed. She shuddered as she thought that, realizing that her odds of survival if she did fail were astronomically low. "Computer," she said to the air around her as she moved to her bed.

The computer chirped and acknowledged her request. "Computer, message send…" She paused as she suddenly changed her mind. "Correction. Computer, delay five minutes, message send, priority one, General Pepper." As she talked, she pushed a hidden button on the circular nightstand next to her bed. The exterior swiveled in place and revealed a hidden compartment.

She heard a double chirp from her computer, letting her know it was ready for recording. She pulled out her jetpack boots and her enhanced blaster from inside, checking over both as she talked. "General Pepper, this is Fara. Something has gone terribly wrong with Slippy. Somehow, for reasons I simply don't know, he's captured the entire Starfox team and of right now is currently holding them hostage in the team's lounge."

She switched boots and strapped them up as tight as she could in the off chance she'd have to use them. Not like she could without burning down the entire base anyway. "I saw the security footage of the team tied up moments before Slippy shattered the hidden camera with his paws. Check the logs if you want. It'll show the team entering the room, including myself, and nobody leaving."

She placed the blaster she usually wore around the base onto her bed as she stuck her improved one in its holster. She knew she wouldn't pass through any sensors that would detect the unregistered weapon, so she was safe to use it. At least until she fired it. That is if the sensors were still working in the lounge. "Incase you're wondering, I sent this message five minutes ago. If I haven't told you that all is clear, get security into the lounge on the double. I've obviously failed to save the team."

"I wish this is all some hoax. I really do. But something is terribly wrong. What little I saw threatens everything we've done since we started fighting back. And it scares the hell out of me. I hope you don't have to hear this without me telling you to ignore it first. I really do. But if I don't…please hurry. Fara out. Computer, end recording."

Having said everything she needed to say, she made sure her blaster was securely tucked away before leaving. She had a team to save.


Fara knew she was working against the clock. The doors passed by as a blur as she ran towards the lounge. Once again she passed not a soul in the process, bluntly reminding her that she was completely on her own.

All too soon her goal loomed before her. She took a deep breath as she fingered her blaster, making sure it was easily accessible. After giving a quick tug on her shirt to make sure she didn't look as tense as she felt, she fingered the button to open the door.

It silently swished open, revealing little of the interior. Making it look like she knew nothing of what was truly happening inside, she walked right in.

Things started to happen very fast at that point.

As she passed the entryway, she got a clear view of Fox and Peppy. They were both in the exact same position as she saw before, but from this angle she could clearly see that their paws were tied behind their backs.

At that instant, the door slid shut.

Before she could think about escaping, the lights snapped off. In addition, she heard a loud thump on the carpeted floor right behind her.

Acting on pure instinct, she somersaulted forward. After rolling a few feet, she jumped up and spun around towards the door with her blaster drawn. She stared through the darkness with her ears pointed forward and tried to figure out what caused the noise.

She quickly got the answer, just not the way she expected. The lights sprung to life just as quickly as they died, blinding her momentarily. As her vision recovered, she found herself a few feet away from Slippy.

Taking careful aim, she decided she might as well give the toad one chance to explain himself. "What the hell is going on here?"

Slippy just stood there and grinned.

"Answer me!"

This time he did, but not the way she wanted him to. He took one slow step forward, then another. It was if he was mocking her somehow and tempting her to fire.

"Stop!" she yelled as she backed away.

He continued his slow advance.

Something deep down told her that she did not want the toad anywhere near her. Left with no other option, she fired.

Her shot streaked across the room, aimed unerringly towards one of his legs. Slippy made absolutely no attempt to dodge, which struck her as odd.

What happened next was even more so.

Instead of the sickening splat of a blaster bolt striking flesh, she was greeted with the zing of her shot hitting metal. For good measure, she fired into the other leg and got the same results.

Her expression of fear turned to one of shock as she realized her weapon had no effect. Was he armored under that flight suit? Or was there something else going on?

Slippy's grin grew as he noticed the expression on her face. "Something wrong?" he mocked, opening his arms wide.

"What do you want!" Irrational fear was gnawing at the back of her mind. If her blaster didn't work, could she take him on in melee combat?

"Your death!" he replied as happily as a kid in a candy store.

She continued to back up and passed by the unconscious team. Why couldn't they take him on hand to hand? What was going on? Why wasn't her trusty sidearm working?

Fara let out a panicked roar of frustration. She had to get out of there, but this toad was blocking her, threatening her existence. She let out a barrage of blaster shots, hoping that one of them would strike something vulnerable. She no longer cared if she severely injured or even killed the other pilot.

As before, every shot hit its intended target. Every shot was wasted as well as they had the exact same effect. It was like she was shooting at the armor of an Arwing instead of the flesh and blood toad in front of her.

A thought passed through her mind as Slippy began laughing maniacally for no reason she could fathom. She could punch through an Arwing's hull. She had the firepower.

Her foot suddenly connected with something solid, causing her to stumble. A quick glance back told her that she'd hit the lone couch sitting by itself in the far corner of the lounge.

Time was something she no longer had.

She flicked the hidden switch on her blaster and moved behind the couch. She then tucked the weapon back into its holster as well. All she needed was a few seconds for it to charge, nothing more.

Slippy was not going to give her that.

He quickly advanced and blocked off her escape routes. "This seems so familiar somehow," he said. "Oh, that's right. This is exactly where Fox fell. There's a gun on the floor right next to you in fact."

Fara felt fear grip her soul once more as she wondered what Fox felt in his last moments of consciousness. She shook it off as she stared into the toad's face, knowing that she now had a goal in front of her. She just had to keep away—

The toad suddenly bounded forward around the left side of the couch. He moved far faster than she'd ever seen him move. She responded by vaulting over the couch, scrunching up to go into a roll afterwards.

She never got that far.

She lurched to a halt as Slippy grabbed her left foot by the ankle. Her breath was knocked out of her as she landed hard on the cushions. Gasping for air, she struggled to get free, but despite her best efforts, the toad had a vice-like hold on her.

"Nimble little bitch, aren't we?" said Slippy in a low tone.

Bitch? Nobody had ever called her that before. Short of one person anyway.

Andross.

There was no way that was Slippy behind her.

She continued to squirm, using her free foot to kick the toad in the face. Failing that, she grabbed the couch and tried to flip right side up to possibly use her weapon, but the toad wasn't yielding his grip in the slightest.

"Still fighting?" asked Slippy. "Fine. Let's make sure you don't try to escape again."

She suddenly let out a gasp of pain. Slippy had shifted his grip, squeezing steadily harder with each passing second. While her metal-lined boots offered some resistance, she could feel the pressure increasing rapidly. He was going to crush her ankle if he continued.

She had to escape now. No matter the cost.

And she could only think of one possible solution.

Arcing her back so she wouldn't shatter her spine, she reached over and touched the small wristband that contained the controls for her jetpack boots. Moving her free foot so it was pointing directly at the toad's face, she tapped the ignition button for full power.

Slippy held on for only a second as the flames burned into him before letting go. Fara tumbled across the room, her boots shutting down the instant she let go of the controls. With a sickening crunch, she smashed into the far wall of the room and came to rest in almost a seated position on the floor.

Her eyes glazed over as she fought to remain conscious, her entire body throbbing with pain. Sparks danced across her vision as she wearily gazed around the room, trying to comprehend what had happened.

With a snap everything came back to her; what had happened just a few short minutes ago, who she was facing, and how much danger she truly was in. She shook her head vigorously as she recovered and tried to find her aggressor.

Confusion splayed across her face as she looked around. What had happened to Slippy? Where did he go? Did she kill him?

She heard some sounds from behind the couch and realized that she didn't want to know the answer to that question anymore. Fearing for her life, the only thought on her mind was of escaping. She could find reinforcements easily enough. Staying here risked capture, if not death.

She leaned heavily against the wall for support as she rose to her feet. As soon as she tried to take a step, putting her full weight upon her left leg, she yelped in pain and dropped to the floor. Her ankle was sprained, or worse. Either way, there was no escaping.

She was trapped.

Movement from across the room drew her attention away from her debilitating injury. Her heart began to race even faster as she realized that her attacker was anything but dead. That was the least of her problems, however.

Slippy slowly marched around the couch and came completely into view. As he did, she simply couldn't believe what she was looking at.

From the chest down, it was the toad she'd known and worked beside for these many weeks. As her eyes traveled upwards from that point, they revealed something she did not expect, nor want to see.

Slippy was a robot.

The fleshly covering had roasted away from the extreme heat around his left arm and shoulder, showing the mechanical wiring and parts inside. Despite the visual damage, the arm was still fully operational. He moved the limb around its full range of motion as if to tell her he was still undamaged.

What looked far worse was the toad's head. Or what was left of it. The entire face had melted away into an unrecognizable lump of greenish flesh, hanging around his neck like a sick necklace. It revealed a metal skull with two glowing red orbs underneath. They rotated around, sometimes independent of each other, focusing on anything the AI powering Slippy decided was important.

Right now, that focus was her.

"Primary objective, the capture and return of the Starfox team to Andross, failed." Even though it looked nothing like Slippy anymore, it still sounded exactly like him. Who he was talking to was beyond her however. "Secondary objective, the death of the Starfox team, in progress."

What could she do? What could she possibly do?

Slippy looked towards the other pilots, as if he was debating who to kill first, when his attention was drawn back to Fara by a single beeping noise that emanated from her direction. She continued to look into the face of death, too scared to realize what caused that sound. Until it did it again.

It was her blaster.

Both sets of eyes were drawn to the weapon, lying on the floor just a few feet away from her. It had popped out of its holster when she smashed into the wall earlier. The beeping told her that she had a charged shot ready for use.

Knowing what she had to do, she rolled towards the weapon. A burst of pain came from her foot as it hit the ground again, but she pushed it out of her mind. She had only one chance at this. The damage she was doing to her body was secondary.

She snatched the weapon in her paws and came to rest on her stomach. As she looked through the bouncing sights, her entire body shaking in fear and pain, she thought she saw the toad grin at her.

She fired.

The bolt of energy practically screamed as it shot across the room. Her aim wasn't as accurate as she had hoped, connecting with the lower part of the damaged left arm. The limb instantly exploded in a bright flash and forced her to shut her eyes from the glare. As she opened them again, she hoped that the toad had malfunctioned from the injury.

Instead, Slippy was standing there, staring at the damage that he'd suffered. The arm promptly ended at the elbow, charred metal chunks the only sign that there ever was anything else attached to it. The paw itself was visible a few feet away on the floor, jerking uncontrollably for a few seconds before it lost power.

The glowing eyes quickly turned her way. Its programming was left confused, as its armored shell was designed to withstand any standard arms fire. This was an unplanned impossibility. It did know that it had to remove the threat of the person holding it before it suffered terminal damage.

Slippy charged.

Fara's blaster chirped again. She didn't think twice in pulling the trigger a second time, this time with the gun aimed directly at the toad's head.

Unlike before, her aim was true.

The shot lanced across the few feet separating the pair, striking Slippy right between the eyes. A moment later, the head exploded and showered the nearby area with fine particles of debris. Fara shielded her eyes with an arm, waiting for the lightshow to subside.

When she uncovered them, she knew that she'd won. Slippy was dead.

The robot stood there for a second, as if not realizing that it had been defeated, before it toppled backwards onto the carpeted floor. As it fell out of her view, her eyes met with Fox's, who at sometime during the battle had woken up from his slumber. Based on his expression, she knew that he'd seen most, if not all, of the fight.

The realization of what she'd done crashed into her like a wave as she lowered the now shaking arm that held her blaster. She'd just killed one of the members of the team. Even though he was clearly a creation of Andross, it still looked and talked like him.

How many more of these robots did the ape have under his command? How long had Slippy been a construct? What about the rest of the team? Were they flesh and blood as well, or had Andross gotten to them too? What about the rest of the base? Was there anybody she could trust?

Then there was the biggest question of them all – what had happened to Slippy?

She curled up into a quivering mass of fur, unable to take it any longer. The war was supposed to be over. They'd won. This was not supposed to be happening.

Just then, she heard the door slide open. Reacting on instinct alone she rolled on her side. Her arms trembled as she tried to aim her weapon towards whoever entered.

The base's security force charged through the opening yelling, "Security! Freeze!" The first three ran in a few steps before dropping to one knee, allowing the other triad ample firing patterns as they remained standing. They noticed the carnage instantly, as well as the threat Fara provided from her own weapon. "Put down the gun!"

Her eyes closed as the blaster dropped out of her hands. She was safe for now. Or so she hoped.

The built-up tension and conflict streamed out of her as she burst into tears. This was supposed to be a time of celebration, not one of conflict and death. She wasn't prepared for this.

She heard security move over and kick the weapon away. As soon as they declared the room safe, Pepper marched in and tried to make sense of what had happened.

Fara didn't care. She just wanted to be left alone, trying to think of peaceful times, times when one didn't have to worry that your friends would turn into your worst enemy at a moment's notice.


And now for a rare thought after the chapter: This isn't exactly the peaceful conclusion to the battle that the team expected, no? And if I've left you (the reader) with more questions than answers, don't worry - they'll be answered in the next chapter.