Author's Note: wow, 199 hits since posting chapter 10. They're not all for chapter 10, of course, some of you like to read a chapter or two before the most current one, to get up to date on the latest and that's totally cool. I would estimate I have about 66 actual readers, who stay current with this story. I want to thank each and every one of you. We're almost to "SF: ASSAULT" the game, then I'll start a sequal that begins the day after Assault Ends, hehe. I'll be uploading the chapters of my other 3 novels around the same time I finish this one and upload the first chapter of "Reflections Of The Future." meaning "post SF:Assault" lol.
-kit
Chapter 11: "Not According To Plan"
Falco's detritus of fallen gang members right at the doorway to the Street King's hideout made it obvious that something had happened, in downtown Corneria Capital City on the corner of East 44th and Cedar Avenue. He had waited across the street for Katt to come and leave again, before meeting the poodle back at Space Dynamics. But by the time the night was over, Falco had gone back by the area, which was now swarming with teams of investigators, investigating things, detectives detecting things, the entire hoopla.
Katt Monroe was sitting up the block on a concrete set of steps at the corner, alone. Falco spied her, walking up to the pinkish-furred feline and sitting on the step adjacent to her, patting her knee with his palm. "How are you holding up after seeing him again?" He asked.
"Feeling a little emotional but it's therapeutic," She told Lombardi with tones that were only slightly above a whisper. "I'm glad you called me. I wouldn't give up the chance to have stomped him a few times, for the world. Did you know, he offered to admit to information if I let him go? The more he told me, the more I knew I had to do what I had to do, in there," She explained.
"You put him out of his misery, huh?" Falco said with a light chuckle. "What did he tell you?"
"What didn't he tell me?" She said, not knowing where to start. "Let's see, for one, he admitted to the mysterious deaths of several gang members, while dating me; he used me. Then of course, there was the fact that he didn't just cheat on me with other girls, he forced them into doing things with him. He was a real scumbag; I don't know how I couldn't see through his façade."
"Don't worry about it," Falco said, brushing his beak against the side of her muzzle. She smiled a bit, but she knew she lost her cool in there and tore that guy a metaphorical new tail hole. She was shaking, now, from the loss of adrenaline and didn't know what to do about it. Falco placed his feathery fingers around her arms, simply holding her for a moment. The two remained quiet, sitting a block away from the crime scene.
"What did you get out of tearing that building apart?" She finally asked.
"Well, for starters, I got a free Rocket Launcher from Space Dynamics. It's awesome, you should see it, tomorrow afternoon. But the real reason wasn't to settle a score or even to help the brother of some girl who was hurt by that slug," He told her with a frown. It was awkward, but he felt like he had to defend the justification for such an act.
"Then what was it?" Monroe asked, turning to face him, her eyes glowing in the lamp light of the orange "DO NOT WALK" sign, at the corner, that was suspended to a pole that ran power lines through the city.
"Well, I…" Falco trailed off for a moment, before continuing, "…wanted to prove to someone that StarFox isn't some bunch of jerk offs. We help people in need and risk our necks to do it. Geeze Laweeze, you'd have thought the man personally killed my whole family, the way I totaled his crib."
Katt shook her head before saying, "I appreciate your work, but you're not a gang member anymore. You're not involved in turf wars, anymore. The Space Hot Rodders want to change their image and not be a group of Hell's Angels, out to make a huge mess of things." She glanced down, keeping her cheek against Falco's own, while musing over the carnage Falco had caused earlier in the night. "No more turf wars. I couldn't believe the massive fight you'd had with Fox, dog-fighting against your own best friend, over the sands of Titania, a month after rejoining us. I know we've got to change some things about ourselves, for the better preservation of ourselves and our sanity," Monroe explained.
"You want to make the SHR gang a bunch of Sunday church members, or something?" Falco asked her. Katt shook her head softly, those pretty pink and white bangs bouncing back and forth. Falco pulled his head back to get a good look at her. "Then what are you trying to do with them?"
"We're not a bunch of teenagers anymore. We've got our established areas, we were thinking about going to wars with gangs who start problems with the public," She replied.
"Are you serious?" Falco blinked twice, reaching to pat her knee again. "Vigilantism has no place on Corneria. It wouldn't work," he told her firmly.
Katt sighed softly. "Falco, I'm talking about Gangs that smuggle contraband into the community? Stop them at the source; hit them while they're buying from some shady guy on the Sargasso Promenade. I want to pinch closed the blood veins of gang wars, cut off their fuel supplies."
"You're going to get yourself killed. That's one man's business for every one hundred men's addiction. That guarantees that you will have no less than eleven thousand people after you, at any given moment," Falco explained, adding, "Not to mention dirty cops who run the crooked side of the Drug Enforcement Agency and whatever else."
Monroe folded her arms. "It's a crooked world, Falco. It's a crooked system, sometimes. But the Space Hot Rodders are doing this to hurt Venom. They're the ones who cash in under the table on this problem. Contraband isn't everything, either," She explained.
"Well, you know that I'm back with StarFox now, right? I can't help you guys out if you're in a huge jam." Falco looked down. He felt guilty for saying that but there was nothing he could do.
"Falco, shh," She whispered, leaning to kiss the corner of his beak. "Maybe we'll get our bounty hunters license so we can do this legally. Either way, just relax. I'll be fine." She said. Falco turned his head and the two shared a short kiss.
Krystal opened a radio communication to GreatFox. It had to be done; she didn't know how to go about this crazy scenario. It was like a bad dream where she had no control. She rolled onto her back, on the cliff, so that she was well hidden, then engaged the staff's cloaking option.
"Peppy here, what's the latest news?" he asked, the volume control was turned down, so she had to really pay attention to hear him. She lifted the wristband computer to her ear, speaking in a whisper.
"Peppy," She hissed softly, "You won't believe this. I can't believe what's happening," She said.
On the GreatFox, Krystal's reception was poor. He was frustrated, turning knobs and such, in an attempt to lock the signal in but she was laying on a rocky cliff edge that was made out of some strange materials, which made the quality of her reception poor. Her broken words said something about being shocked over finding a fourth person in the company of StarWolf but every time she tried to tell him who it was, the quality of reception reduced itself to a burst of static.
The transmission fizzled out, and connection was lost. Back on Aquias, above the beach, Krystal groaned. She climbed to the edge once more, peering over the side. They were still on the beach, talking amongst themselves.
Her mind raced for an explanation. She knew her only choice now, was to protect StarWolf at all costs. They were in over their heads as was she. If things didn't pan out correctly, Venom was going to score an ace in the hole. She finally made her way back down the back side of the ledge to continue her hunt for Venom soldiers. She had to keep them from ever finding StarWolf.
Panther Caruso's gaze passed over Leon, Wolf, and stopped on Geoffrey Lionel. "It's amusing, Mister Prime Minister. I've never been paid to assassinate someone before, then had a conversation with them, after it was all over."
"I'm sure," Lionel grumbled. "So what is the point behind this farce?"
"It's quite simple," Panther noted, nodding his head to Wolf to continue the explanation.
O'Donnell sneered, but as the leader, it was his duty to be talking to the leader of Corneria. He shook his head, then started talking. "It's real simple, Geoff. Andrew paid us because you're dead. Corneria doesn't stand a chance to win a war against Venom unless someone war minded is in the driver's seat. You put John Pepper in your position, Corneria doesn't get blown up. Then after the war is over, we ransom you back to Corneria and make a double profit."
"When is the war officially over?" The Prime Minister asked.
Wolf passed the conversation off to Leon, not wanting to get into a wordy debacle over this. "The day Andrew is defeated, you go home. Until then, you're a welcome guest on Sargasso, because it's the only place that no one will recognize you, for one; two, you won't be hunted by Venom if someone does find out you're there. Venom gets all their illegal trade business through us. That and we have enough soldiers to start a small war, long enough to get you somewhere else if it comes to that."
"Why are you doing this? Why are you keeping me alive and hidden?" Asked Lionel.
"For money, you twit." Wolf smirked, having insulted the man with name calling. "I can't stand you. You're a liberalist idiot. You don't have my respect, you never will," the lupine said, his voice dropping to a murmur. He turned his head, looking off into the distance towards the cliff back, up off the beach.
"Someone's here. Get your guns, boys."
Panther took a position to better guard the trophy, while Leon and Wolf climbed up through the sands, making their way towards the large cliff-like structure that towered over the beach. They stopped where the foliage began, shooting randomly into the area, simply painting the entire scene from green to black. Within a few moments, they decimated the area at the base of the cliff. Wolf could see a body drop to the ground, the silhouette growing dark in his bionic implant. He lifted his gun, after releasing the trigger and Leon did the same.
"We got'em boss?" Powalski asked.
"We did, let's go see what we killed. Whoever they are, the body is tiny, very lithe in the waist," O'Donnell said. They walked through the burnt out bushes, kneeling down besides the body. Wolf grabbed the being by the back of their neck, lifting their head.
"Who is it?" Leon asked, putting his fists on his hips.
"You'll never believe it," O'Donnell said, shaking his head with a soft groan. "We're getting in over our heads and should have never agreed to help Panther with this. The rest of this idiot's team is going to come after us and there's going to be trouble."
"What'd you find?" Leon asked, kneeling down to see what Wolf was looking at.
A dead member of the Venom army lay on the ground, having been dispatched by both Wolf and Leon and their crossfire through the brush. It just proved one thing; Oikonni tried to screw his assassin and now he just made enemies with StarWolf by accident.
Krystal approached two men, who seemed to be looking for their third member. She could sense that they were fairly lost without him. She quickly wrapped the bar of her staff around the throat of one, dragging him back from his third member. After a moment, the struggling lizard went still and she dropped him to the ground. Then she quickly attacked the third man, with quick, agile staff strikes and kicks, beating him into submission the way Fox once used the staff on Sauria, over a week and a half ago.
She gave the staff one last twirl, planting the base of it into the dirt and knelt down low, sensing the approach of two others. She paused for a moment longer, then moved back into the brush, hiding in silence.
Wolf and Leon walked through the area, stopping to inspect one of the Venom army troops on the ground. Wolf smirked. "We're not alone, Chameleon," He said, pronouncing Leon's full first name.
"I can see that, Wulfarus," Leon replied, offering the same disrespect for his Boss with a light chuckle. "So who's fighting the Venom troops here, or are they trying to protect us from someone else, maybe?"
"Don't be a fool," Wolf snapped. "There are two groups here. One that's trying to get their money back from us, the other that's trying to get the Prime Minister from us. They ran into one another before either of them found us. That's our cue to get Lionel to the fighters and move."
Krystal winced from her spot in the bushes. Here they were, trying to protect the lion, even though it was to make more money in the end, and she'd just made it impossible for them to leave. Wolf, on the other hand, already saw her form in the bushes, but was biding his time. He moved closer to the brush, acting as if he was investigating the body from a different angle, when suddenly, he reached into the bushes, snatching the shadow of a form that showed up in his ocular implant.
The stealth colored vixen gasped softly, getting dragged out by her right arm. The cloaking process ended, simply making her appear to come out of the shadows and into Wolf's grip. She struggled but he had her firmly. "Let go, you!" She lifted her other arm and punched Wolf in the shoulder but he didn't even flinch.
"Aren't we feisty?" Leon hissed at her, craning his neck to glare into her face. She continued to struggle with her neck in Wolf's palm. Leon widened his large amber eye right in front of her face, just to unnerve her.
"You're all in great danger," She choked out, trying to buy leeway for herself. "You've got to get the Prime Minister somewhere safe. You must hurry," She added, her voice returning as Wolf's grip loosened slightly.
"And you are?" Wolf blinked in his good eye, glaring at her for a moment. He would have rolled his eyes but there was no reason to go there, instead choosing another means of scaring her. He simply narrowed his singular gaze, squinting at her just to intimidate her. She could sense that was his game and so she glowered back at him, baring her teeth. "Oh, that's quite nice. So why have you been following us?" He asked.
Krystal wasn't sure if he'd known for a while or if he said it to scare her for being on this island in the first place. She couldn't read it from him; his mind was on something else entirely. His eye was looking forward but his mind was elsewhere. That's when she realized that he was actually looking through the seashell bra with his bionic eye. Her right paw came up and smacked him across his face, forcing his muzzle 45 degrees to the left, forcing him to avert his gaze.
"I like her," Wolf mused, dropping her to the sand. "Don't let Panther know she's here, Leon. That's all we need is the goddess-forsaken "lady's man" trying to put the moves on her." He then looked back at Krystal and asked, "What's your name, last chance."
"Krystal," She muttered, reaching for her throat, sitting up on her knees.
"Last name?" Wolf demanded.
"Our race doesn't use a surname. We use titles. Until we're old enough, we simply go by our first name, as the son or daughter of our parent's and their title," She explained sourly.
"Then what's your… title?" Leon said, kneeling down to one knee, putting his large, yellow right eye in her face again.
"Krystal… of the Crimson Sun," She said, pointing to the circular tattoo on her thigh. She took a moment, then stood up once more, folding her arms and smirking. Wolf seemed amused, but business was more important, right now.
O'Donnell paused, then asked, "So Venom is after us. Fine. So, why are they doing this; do they know about Geoffrey Lionel?"
"They don't yet know you have him, no one did. Your secret is safe. The problem is, they want their money back," She told them.
"It was a bum job," Leon cried, throwing his hands up in the air. "I can't believe this, Panther was supposed to get ambushed by his own employer. What kind of idiot does Oikonni take us for?"
"Shut up, Leon," Wolf snapped. "They don't know about us, they're here for Wolf."
"Wrong," Krystal corrected. Wolf and Leon turned to stare at her again. She shrugged, then continued, "They said they're hunting for the members of StarWolf. I heard them. They know where you are, how much money you have, the only thing they don't know, is that you didn't do your job the way they wanted you, I suggest you give them back their money without a fight, since you didn't kill the Prime Minister like you were paid to do."
"No, it's ours. We're keeping The Prime Minister from leading Corneria in the upcoming war, just like Andrew wants. If Andy-freakin'-Oikonni thinks he's got a one up on me, he's wrong," Wolf mused, tapping the bottom side of his muzzle with his paw. "You realize, if this little blue chick talks to anyone, we're caught. She had no choice but to keep her mouth closed on the situation, so she has to come with us as well."
"I have no plans to 'talk' about what's going on. Prime Minister Lionel isn't my world leader," She replied, trying to stay cool.
"Mm, but I can see that you're bluffing," O'Donnell chuckled, watching her through the bionic implant. "Your heart rate increases when you lie, you glance to the left, unintentionally, then look back to your audience and don't even realize it. Your pupils dilate when you fib, and of course, the modulated frequency of your voice changes."
"…I," Krystal could hardly even stammer, she just gawked. "What's the point of keeping your secret, anyhow?" She asked.
"See that? You just admitted it," Wolf said with a chuckle. "I can't tell you were lying, I just wanted to call your bluff. Modulated Frequency? C'mon now, I'm not a rocket scientist," The lupine said, patting her shoulder a little too hard. "If you tell someone, Corneria starts a search and rescue. Andrew realizes we didn't finish the job, then the Lylat War starts with Sargasso before they even make it to Corneria. I'm keeping the Prime Minister because I know it'll rile up John Pepper enough that he'll lead Corneria into a real war, after recruiting a bunch of pilots. So you're coming with us," he told her, followed by a feral glower and growl.
"My apologies, boys," Krystal started, quickly reaching for the staff on her back. "But I have more pressing issues to attend," She continued, quickly unleashing a hard kick at Leon and a simultaneous fire blast at Wolf. Both were thrown to their backs. Before either could react, she slammed the base of the staff into the ground. A surge of energy passed through the Staff then she launched forward, up into the air, and was immediately gone.
Wolf pounded the sand with his fist. "Dammit! To the fighters, we'll tow Panther's back to the beach, do a pick up and get out of here. Hurry!" He shouted. Leon stood up, followed by the lupine. They sprinted off, in the direction of their fighters, leaving Krystal alone, high up in the tree branches.
"I don't know if I should tell Fox or the team, but I know one person, who I should warn," She said quietly, to herself. After punching a few buttons on her wrist computer, she used the built in address booklet to pull up the personal communicator of General Pepper. Fox had his wrist computer programmed with that number and now it was going to come in handy. If Wolf's intentions weren't so noble, in this situation, she would have had no problems telling everyone what was going on.
Leon punched the hull of his fighter. "I wonder if Venom did this. Part of me feels like it's something they would do, the other part of me really feels like they would just steal the fighter and keep the fuel in it, and try to use it against us."
"They don't have the start codes," Wolf sighed softly. "It's possible they feel these fighters are worthless, although I really have to wonder if that little girl had something to do with it. Either way, I'll have to get back to the beach and we'll contact Ruffian to bring us gas first thing in the morning, when this Island is safe. If he gets shot down, he won't be any good to help us. So, if they want a war, let's give them a war, tonight."
"Do you think Krystal will talk?" Leon mused.
"And just who is Krystal?" Came a voice from behind. Wolf and Leon whirled about, drawing their blasters, but it was Panther. Leon rolled his eyes, Wolf groaned.
"The Blue vixen from the Café," Wolf said with a smirk. "You'll have your chance to meet her, but not tonight. We've got a change of plans," He added, glancing at the Prime Minister that stood behind Panther. "We need to start a base camp, our fighters have no fuel. Our priority is to hide Geoff, here, if we want to use him for ransom. Sorry," Wolf said, directing his attention to Corneria's world leader, adding, "But you see, Old man, someone knows you're here and someone else is trying to kill us. So we're going to hide you. When we ransom you back to Corneria, I want a full pardon, or I'll finish the job I was paid to do," O'Donnell told the man.
"Fine. You have a deal. But why keep me from leading Corneria with this war upon us?"
"Because, like I was saying earlier," Wolf replied, "Corneria doesn't stand a chance with a Liberalist pansy behind the wheel. You've proven that much, in the past. Now let's move out. We've got a ton of work to do, tonight. Move your tail, lion."
"Mm, Krystal," Panther murmured softly. "Intriguing name she has, wouldn't you agree?" To his question, Geoffrey simply shrugged and the quartet begin to walk back through the darkened sandy trails, among the rows of Palmetto trees, keeping themselves in single file and absolutely quiet, from here on out.
The group made it back to the cave entrance they'd located earlier on in the afternoon and came to rest at the rocky maw. Wolf panned his bionic view around the area, then motioned for Panther to go first, followed by Geoffrey and Leon. He put his back to them, keeping guard for a moment at the cavern entrance.
Wolf's ears flickered, hearing the soft click of a flashlight coming from inside the Cave. He wondered to himself where Panther had located the gear, assuming the feline must have taken it from his emergency tool kit, in his Wolfen. Then another thought came to him; what if there were Venom troops down there, waiting for them? Wolf went for his blaster, turning to enter the cave, ready to dish out some punishment.
When he got down there, he found the cave flooded with light. But his first instinctive assumption turned out to be correct. Panther was holding a flash light and there was no one else around. The further they went into the extensive network of tunnels, the harder it became to see.
With Panther's flashlight, the contrast in the light and the darkness made it impossible for Wolf to see beyond the tool's cone of vision. The four of them kept close together, making sure that each paw print was made in silence. Panther was at the front and was the first to stop, causing all four of them to turn into a sandwich.
Wolf peered over the shoulders of the three men in front of himself, his jaw dropping at the sight. Two lizards and a Marmoset with guns, ready and waiting. Panther waved the flashlight in their faces, but their stoic expressions showed that they weren't fooling around.
Suddenly, something hit the flashlight, knocking it from Panther's paw. It clattered on the ground, casting the tunnel into darkness once more. Wolf could see again, but what came next happened so fast that he wasn't sure if he was seeing it correctly.
All he saw was the twirl of a staff and the quick jump of a lithe being. A pair of shapely legs parted, kicking their feet out in two directions, catching the nape of the neck of both lizards. The staff was brought down upon the skull of the marmoset, rendering him unconscious. She landed upon the ground, then thrust the metallic staff outwards, using the end to flip the flashlight up into the air. It hit Panther in the nose, dropping into his paw. He fumbled with the object for a moment, making sure not to drop it, then switched it back on.
By the time the flood of illumination returned to the dank tunnel, there was no sign of anybody, save for the trio of Venom soldiers, laying on the ground in silence. Panther grinned. "Love the triad of troops. Do you smell that?" He asked, inhaling deeply. "The sent of a woman. She's close."
"Give it up," Leon grunted. "You're not getting into her trousers, Caruso. She's out of your league. Now, let's go." He gave Panther a nudge in the shoulder and the four of them began forward again, stepping over the three unconscious troops.
"Who's to say she doesn't want me?" Panther chuckled. "Or possibly, I'm a thorn to her. I'm the variable that isn't according to her plan."
"Shut up," Wolf told them both. "I need time to think. This whole day has been not according to plan."
Next: Chapter 12! The dawn of Assault.