A/N: Sorry about the spelling errors in past chapters guys. I thought I had snagged them all, I knew I had, cause I would save a file about seven times just to make sure they all took. Something got into my PC that is changing the text of lots of things. It even changed the HTML and Coding on a few of my games and sites. Don't worry, I'm tracking it down now and should have it within the next week, meaning that the spelling errors will go down GREATLY!
Sorry for the trouble.
- Tobias
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"I know I fly everywhere, but I still don't like these planes." Fox said, sitting down. Bryan would have figured that random people would have been staring at them both, but everyone didn't really seem to pay much attention.
They had both worn jackets to cover up their weapons so that no one would be any more the wiser of their presence. Even the Air Marshals didn't notice them.
The airlines had placed them in the back of the plane so they had some privacy, the only people on the plane aware of them were the crew, which to their credit didn't let on to their presence except for the occasional smile or free drink.
Bryan had just set his cup down. He had always been fascinated to the fact that the public was blind to their presence of the Air Marshals. To Bryan, they were completely obvious. You could see them shift a little every now and then. Their gaze would check over any person who had passed them.
They had to be the most obvious undercover cops in the world. But they still had a job to do, just like anyone else.
Bryan sat back and closed his eyes, falling into a slight sleep while Fox just read through random things he had pulled from the seat pocket in front of him.
Bryan wasn't sure how long he had slept, but he was awakened to the sound of the pilot calling over the loud speakers.
"Excuse the interruption folks, we seem to have hit some kind of circumstance. We will not be landing at D. C. International. Please, be patient while we find another landing zone." The pilot sounded tense, more tense then he should have according to Bryan's gut.
He looked around the cabin and found that the Air Marshals now seemed slightly tense as well, never mind the rest of the visible crew. Bryan grabbed the phone in front of him, swiping his card threw.
He talked in the lowest voice possible. "Mei, we've been redirected. I don't know why."
"All right. Keep in touch if anything else happens. Everything is quiet here."
"Alright, I'll keep you posted."
"Sounds good, we finished those personal shield things. All we waiting for now is your-"
Mei's voice suddenly stopped. "Mei? Mei?" Bryan called into the phone, getting no response.
"Hello out there. We have control of your plane. And we now control you lives. Let you all hope that your government meets our demands. If not, well, you know." A voice had come over the loud speakers of the plane. Bryan really didn't like were this was going.
"We have cut off all Wi-Fi and phone access. The only contact to the outside world right now is through the plane radio in the cockpit. And I assure you, you won't be using that."
Bryan watched as four men went down the isles, what appeared to be short range pistols in hand. Both him and Fox watched as the executed the Air Marshals. They finished going down the isles making sure to intimidate each passenger. Finally they all returned to the front, leaving one of their buddies behind.
"These guys are complete rookies. Granted, they killed the AMs but, they only leave one guard?"
"Sounds like they don't really know what their doing." Fox answered. Bryan nodded getting up from his seat, Fox stayed put, watching the agent as he strolled towards the terrorist.
"Take a seat, sir." The terrorist commanded towards Bryan who acted like he hadn't heard a thing. The second warning came when Bryan was at arms length from the suspect who promptly drew his weapon.
"You looking to be a hero boy? I said take a seat."
Bryan grabbed the gun from the suspect's hand, twisting it in such a fashion that the suspect's back was now pressed to Bryan's chest while his hand still held the gun, but to his own head.
"Now, now. Is that any way to talk to a man who could kick your ass? Now, if you want to keep your life you'll tell me your objective."
"Alright, alright! Look, we are under contract from some guy. He said that if we took over the plane we would be able to force the American government not to get involved in the Cornerian war. Whatever the hell that is, all I know is he shoved a shit load of cash in our face."
"Good to know. How many of you are there."
"Only ten."
Bryan smiled slightly, slamming his fist down on the back of the terrorists head, putting him into an empty seat, making sure to take his weapon. He waved Fox up, who went up the opposite isle, drawing his own weapon.
"Make sure your shots are spot on. No chances, got it?" He whispered over, drawing his own weapon. The only tactical advantage they had would be to go up opposite sides of each isle, making their way to the cockpit of the place. There would be no 'disarming' shots, only kill shots. It would be the only way to assure the safety of the passengers.
The both hit the doors at the same time, seeing at least four terrorists in this section of the plane they stayed in the cover of the doorway, calling out.
"DCTU! Get down!"
"Drop it!"
Any terrorist not facing them turned around. If they even flinched they were taken out.
Two were already down and two more stood still, not daring to move.
"Come on boys, I really hate to repeat myself. Don't move and lower your weapons and all we're gonna do is arrest you. If you try to run or shoot at us, we'll get you."
The next moment was like time slowed down almost. With the flick of a wrist one of the terrorists now had a handgun in their hand, aiming it directly at Fox. There was a muzzle flash, Bryan was sure of that. Bryan had fired two shots at the unnamed attacker, he didn't dare look over to Fox until he had killed the second one knowing full well he would look for the moment to kill him too.
Double checking his sights to make sure he was clear he turned to look over at Fox. Fox stood still with his eyes wide. Bryan jumped over the couple in the isle seats to get to his side.
He check Fox over, finding no wounds. "What the hell…"
"That thing was headed strait for my head… it… it stopped dead!" He gasped out, trying to keep a firm grasp on his weapon.
Bryan looked down on his feat to find the bullet sitting there, the tip was impacted in like the bullet had hit a brick wall.
"We got lucky, come on, we need to move." Bryan said, turning around, heading back up the isle again. Random people ducked in their seats as the two made their way up towards the cockpit.
Bryan grasped the handle, making sure Fox had him covered. The pulled the door open to find the dead co-pilot and the main pilot steering the plane.
"Don't shot! I'm doing as you told me to!" He yelled out, hearing the door being swung open.
"It's alright, the plane is clear."
"Flight 165! Do you copy! I repeat, flight 165 do you copy. We have met your demands! Reply now or we will shoot the plane down!"
Bryan grabbed the headset of the dead co-pilot. "This is Bryan with DCTU. The plane is clear. I repeat, the plane is clear of threat."
"Confirm."
"Agency ID: 286497369. Confirmed, clear!"
"I copy. What about the bomb?"
"Bomb?" Fox chocked out, just having holstered his weapon. The pilot pointed to a set of digits blinking in the middle of the consol.
"Negative, bomb active."
Bryan cut the channel off, turning the radio dial to find one of the DCTU emergency frequencies.
"Hay! Someone at HQ, answer the radio! Emergency!"
"Dean here, who's this?"
"It's me, Bryan. Listen terrorists took the plane. They're all dead, but they left us a little present."
"Copy. Wanna talk to Jackie? She's the explosives expert."
"Hurry up, I've got a TTB of sixty seconds!"
"I'm here. What do you got?"
"Looks like a standard device. But its not like anything I've ever seen…"
"Got an ID number or something?"
"Nope, they key pad isn't even in English. It looks like something alien…"
Fox pushed Bryan aside, taking the headset.
"Put Krystal on!"
"I'm here."
"Run this through our database. 17-836."
"Running it… it's a time diffusion device, some high explosives."
"Well, how do I shut it off?"
"Alright, you have to his these keys in sequence. Ready to transmit?"
"Go!"
"Alright, alright. Delta-Indy-Echo-Adam-Adam-Sam."
Fox hit the keys according to Krystal's instructions. He hit the last key just as the clock struck zero. Bryan flinched, expecting to die at the moment.
"We got it! Device defused!" Fox called. Bryan fell backwards, nearing death for the second time in one week.
"Jesus, do you know how to cut it close. What the hell was that thing?" Bryan asked, not getting off the floor.
"It's a Cornerian nova bomb. This thing could have blown the who plane out of the sky. The alien type is old style Cornerian."
Bryan blinked a few times, amazed at how fast Fox had been able to calm his nerves.
"You're all crazy."
Fox grinned slightly. "What, and your not."
"Shut up." Bryan came back, getting off the ground, putting a hand on the pilots shoulder.
"Alright, head for the original destination. Call into CNT and let them know that we're all set, ok?"
The pilot nodded, Bryan turned to Fox. "Alright, damage control."
They both left the cockpit, returning to the first class section of the plane. They counted fourteen empty seats, now including the ones with the dead marshals in it.
They entered the coach section, counting a few more empty seats. Knowing that the cargo hold was under the plane and the only way to it would be through the service elevator.
Bryan stood on one of the empty seats. "Alright, everyone pay attention. This plane is now secure and we will be docking with D.C. in just half an hours time. I need fourteen people, anyone with children we'll start with, to come up here. You'll be moved to first class."
Fourteen people walked past him. Good. Bryan thought.
"Alright, now I need three men. Preferably not squeamish."
When three approached him he nodded to them. "Alright listen, I'll need your help carrying bodies to the back of the plane. We're going to use the service elevator to get them to the cargo hold. Just bring them to the back, me and my friend will take care of the rest."
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Two Days Later
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"You're still giving me that look." Bryan said, not bothering to put the paper down. He didn't have to look up to know the glare he was getting from Mei.
"As you should! You could have died on that plane, am I the only one here who worries slightly when its ten on two?"
Bryan sighed, this had been the tenth time she had said that within the past two hours.
"We'll be docking soon." Peppy spoke from the doorway. Both agents nodded and the hare went on his way.
"How do you think it's going to feel, being back on Corneria?" Mei asked after a moment. Judging by her voice Bryan could tell she had moved to one of the windows.
"Don't know. All I know is that the first thing I have to do is go to a meeting. General Pepper wanted to talk to me, Fox, and Krystal. Wouldn't say what its about."
"No one else?"
"Nope."
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"I'm glad you could make it." Pepper spoke, greeting each of the three that walked into his office with a handshake.
"You said it was important."
"Yes well… I'm afraid I have some bad news."
"Oh?"
"We did our own investigation into the Darkness incident. We have very good reason to believe that there was someone on the inside, working with them."
"You mean like a traitor?" Fox questioned, his armed crossed.
"Exactly. Voice print turned up two things. One, that the speaker was a male, and two, that he wasn't in our database. All the calls came from the safe house."
"So you mean it was one of my guys?" Bryan spoke, his voice had taken on a low, threatening tone.
"It appears that way. Now, we here on Corneria have our own way of dealing with traitors. However, given that this is a joint operation, we'll take it any way you care to, Commander Bryan."
Bryan leaned forward. Clearly in a state of enragement, he kept is voice low, and calm.
"I want to know what you know."
"They called a total of six times, the final call they gave away your tactics and team roster. They told them how they you were going to enter the ship, who was going where and when they would be there. They told them everything. I'm surprised as many of you came out of this as you did."
"You're telling me that one of my own is responsible for the death of Kasey? Along with countless other lives!" Bryan yelled, louder than he had hoped to.
Pepper kept his cool, even with the enraged agent no more than three feet from his face. When he saw that Fox and Krystal were about to grab hold of Bryan he waved the off.
"I know this information enrages you. But I wish to know how you want to proceed. Do you want to carry on this investigation on your own? Or shall we continue it?" Pepper asked.
Bryan sat back and sighed, running his temples. "Keep it quiet. I don't want anyone outside of this room to know what's going on… when you can narrow it down to who most likely would be doing it, let me know."
Bryan had his eyes shut before he heard something hit the desk in front of him. He looked up and found a device that looked most like a cell phone.
"Take that. We will issue one to the rest of your crew as well. We'll use it to call you, you can call out of it to. Consider it a gift for your services."
Bryan grabbed the phone, sliding it into his vest pocket. "Good day, General." He said, walking out the door, leaving Fox and Krystal to stare at it for a moment.
"Where is he going to go?" She asked Fox.
"Knowing us men, probably to a bar to think things out."
Fox shook his head, taking his device and the bag of the rest to hand out back at the house. "See you around General."
Outside, Bryan got into his car and burned his way out of the lot. He pulled to a stop at a red light, looking down at the device he had stuff in his pocket.
He pulled it out and opened it. Inside was a slip of paper. He opened it and was amazed to find that it wasn't in the same language he had seen on the plane.
Good you found this. I've heard a lot about you guys, and I'm sorry for your friend. She made a sacrifice for us all, not a thing can change that. I'm here to introduce you to one of my finer-
He stopped reading when a horn was blown behind him, he looked up to find the light had changed. He hit the gas and began to move forward, he found a parking lot and pulled into it, setting his car into park.
He began to read again.
I'm here to introduce you to one of my finer achievements. This device you hold in your hand is the Tract 178. Don't ask about the name. Anyway, this device is a full contact panel device. Meaning that everything is touch-screen. You can dial numbers, receive calls, pull up information of any kind. This thing is the equivalent of a lap-top, cell phone, and PDA all jammed into one, small package.
Just turn it on and it'll run you through a small tutorial. Also, the phone book has listed all the numbers out of the Cornerian Defense and Police systems. Any army or police personal you wish to call is just a button away. Go ahead, turn it on. Good luck.
- Brea, Cornerian Lab Tech
Bryan looked at the device, finding the power button her turned it on.
"Welcome to the Tract 178. This is the first time this unit has been activated. The first button on the top of the screen will take you to the commutations portal. From there you can make and receive calls. When an incoming call is detected, this button with flash, push to receive. The middle button is your information interface. Use this to connect to the internet and get information. The third and final button is the Cornerian Defense Directory, or CDD. Use this to look up and contact any member of the Cornerian Army and Public Service. Please note: we have also included the numbers of Team Star Fox and DCTU on this unit, not in the main directory. Just simply press this button and then the department you wish to look up."
All of the highlighted text on the screen disappeared, to leave three slightly faded out buttons on the screen. Bryan shut the device putting in back in his pocket. He then folded up the note, putting that into his other pocket.
He hadn't even pulled out of the parking lot before it began to ring. He opened it up and pressed the flashing button.
"Uh, hello?" He said, not really holding it up to his ear, almost like it was a speaker phone. He was right.
On the other end he heard crying, followed by a small gasp. "Is this… Bryan… from DCTU?"
Reaching across the passenger seat he opened the glove compartment, taking out a notepad and pen.
"Yes, you seem troubled. What can I do to help?"
"Do you remember me?"
"Can't say I do. But it's been a while."
"I need your help, they took my kid."
"Who is 'they'?"
"The ones from The Darkness II."
Bryan nearly dropped his pad. They struck already?
"Where are you?"
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Bryan killed his siren as he pulled up to the house. The place was rattled with laser shots and more sirens off in the distance signaled the approach of the Calvary. Outside sat a lone person, she was crying.
It took Bryan a moment to realize who it was. "Moran!"
