--Author's Note: Thank you once again to all who have left these generous reviews. I'm very glad to see that you like the story, and I strive to make it better with each chapter. To Chibialandra, in regard to Hatred Falls: I had great times with that story and one day might continue it, but for now, this story is my sole project on In Hatred Falls' last update, over a year ago, I mentioned a book I was working on. Well, that was very true, and basically all I've been doing in my free time over the past year. With the product now going to the next stage, hopefully, my writing time has freed up and I wanted to come back to the first good times I had in the writing field: Star Fox. Long story short (too late) Hatred Falls is in limbo due to more enthusiastic ideas here, but not yet dead.
And now, please enjoy Chapter 5, a deeper look into our newcomer and a disturbing change of events.--

CHAPTER 5
High Stakes
Great Fox
2047 hours

Gage sure did a number on the assassin. He was perfectly fine with dumping her in a cell and leaving her until she was in a talkative mood, but I decided to play good cop in this one. Though all the evidence pointed to her as my would-be killer, and despite the fact that my head still hurt like hell from her smash with the rifle butt, I managed to muster a little mercy from my rapidly hardening heart. Besides, like Gage said, there was something about her that I couldn't put my finger on. She just didn't seem like a professional killer.

I waited until that evening to see her, when my headache had subsided to a dull throb. The young wolf sat on the cot in the cell, hugging her knees to her chest and staring at the blank wall opposite her. The right side of her head had a nasty bump under the ear and traces of red on the grayish-white fur under her nose told me that she had bled as well. After the harsh kick between Gage's legs, I was surprised she had only gotten away with that much of a beating. All opponents were equal on the battlefield, I knew him to say, whether male or female.

She was pretty though, the kind of girl who would seem more at home being a model in a commercial or something. Without the injuries and sullen face, she could even rate as beautiful. The figure was certainly an envy of her supposed profession; graceful, yet the tight suit showed enough of a build that she had worked at fighting despite her skill in it. After a minute, I realized I was on the verge of mentally undressing a woman sent to kill me and shook my head. Maybe my mind hadn't fully recovered yet.

I punched my access code into the door's keypad and stepped in. She glanced up, but returned her gaze to the wall. I set down a stool I brought along across from the cot and sat, putting myself in her line of view. I set down a pile of little items on the cot next to her and, when she didn't respond, gestured to it.

"There's a cold compress there and some aspirin. Bottle of water too. Do you need anything?"

Her eyes focused a bit, though the bottom half of her head was still hidden behind her folded arms on her knees. She didn't answer immediately, and finally asked, "How's your head?"

The question caught me off guard. I expected something along the lines of "go to hell" from my assassin. "Ok, I guess. Little headache, nothing much." After a moment, I added, "You?"

"Hurts," she replied simply. She glanced around and hugged her knees tighter. "Is he going to kill me?"

I assumed she was talking about Gage. I shook my head. "No one needs to die."

I couldn't tell if my words comforted her, but she asked no more. After a few moments, she lowered her legs and lit her feet on the ground. I realized the floor must be freezing without the boots that were still in the dojo.

"I want to talk," she said, her voice a bit more firm but her eyes still timid. "But not here. It's humiliating."

I frowned in thought. I knew from experience the truth of her latter statement, but I wasn't sure about bringing her in the open yet. I had a feeling she wouldn't try anything, not with Gage around and not in her condition. And after what she said in her daze back in the dojo, she seemed that she really did want to talk. Since that was my goal also, I agreed. "Hungry?"

After a moment, she nodded.

"We'll talk in the galley. We can stop and get your boots on the way."

She had no objections there. We walked side by side, me with my hand resting on my pistol belt. Andrea shot over nervous glances every few seconds, as if I would shoot her when she wasn't looking. In truth, my hand was only resting on my belt out of habit. I was more curious of the girl than fearful. It would just be my luck that fate wouldn't throw a normal assassin at me that I could take pleasure in fighting. It had to throw me an enigma.

My ears perked up at the sound of dim thuds as we approached the dojo. I peeked in the door window and saw Gage, or at least the version of Gage that I took to calling the Berserker. He called it "honing his emotions," and I called it a waste of blood and sparring equipment. What it involved was a punching bag, my buddy with bare hands and no shirt, and the quality boast of the punching bag's manufacturer being tested. I've never seen a man hit so hard so consistently. I learned to leave him alone when he does it.

"I think we should come back later," I said to Andrea. God knows how Gage would react to her in his "controlled anger" mode. If that was his controlled anger, I'd hate to see it uncontrolled.

But she brushed past me with a furrowed brow and opened the door. Gage noticed and, with a final quaking punch that hurt just to look at it, turned to us, chest heaving with each breath. Andrea stood still, staring at him, and Gage stared right back. I was sure that any moment they'd start brawling again.

But Gage spoke instead of fighting. In fact, he seemed to visibly lose the angry edge. I guess miracles do happen.

"You come back for round two?"

When Andrea remained silent, I said, "She wants to talk."

"You mean skip all the torture? Where's the fun in that?" He wiped his forehead with one hand and pointed a finger at me with the other. "And you need to let me know before you do things like let prisoners out."

I opened my muzzle to respond that I was a big boy or some other witty remark that Gage's statements just seemed to bring out of me, but Andrea spoke before I could, to my surprise. Even more surprising was what she said.

"Gage?"

If I was surprised, Gage was downright shocked. He froze, looking like a bewildered mime with his arm still hanging in midair, and stared back at Andrea. "Who the hell are you?"

"I knew it was you. I didn't think you'd remember me. So much has happened since then." She bent down and put her boots on while we stared at her, waiting for more. All she added was, "It's a long story. I know you have reason to be suspicious, but...can we sit down?"

Gage stared at her some more with his stony, stoic expression that would make a gargoyle frown in envy. Finally, he snatched his shirt from the ground and gestured for me to lead the way.

Great Fox, galley
2124 hours

Priorities go like this: weapons, medicine, crackers. Actually, it's a toss-up between meds and crackers. I don't know what I'd do without crackers. I'm no chef and Gage is even less of one. When in doubt, toss a bag of crackers on the table and chow down. I was the authority on cracker toppings, given my experiences with the salty little darlings, but we opted for old-fashioned plain while we talked. Andrea sat at the galley table, munching one after the other, with me opposite her and Gage pacing slowly around the table.

"We can start with the obvious," she began, her gaze fixed on the table. "My name is Andrea O'Donnell. Yes, I'm related to Wolf, you were right about that. He's my brother. But I bet I hate him even more than you do. I hate my whole damn name. Everything wrong with me comes from it."

She glanced up and continued. "When our dad died and Wolf ran off to form StarWolf, he dragged me along. This was just before the war, and I was still in school, but I couldn't argue. I loved him and I saw he needed me. I was just sort of the team's mascot, really. I cooked, cleaned, repaired things, sorted documents, all that. But then he started getting desperate, after you kicked his ass on Fortuna. He trained me to join the team. I didn't want to. I was scared, and I didn't want to kill. Though I could never say it out loud, I secretly hated Andross and wanted Corneria to win. I tried to subtlety get my brother to give up, but he wouldn't. He started getting abusive when I resisted. He'd beat me, lock me in the cells...finally, I had enough. I made plans to leave and run away to Corneria-controlled territory with a close friend from school. But Wolf got wind of it. He...I was...sitting in the cell he kept me in one night after that. He opened the door, threw her severed head in, and locked me in with it for two days."

"Shit..." I muttered involuntarily. Gage continued his pacing.

Andrea continued. "I loved my brother once, but the war had turned him into a monster. Towards the end of the war, I escaped. But I feared I would be killed by Cornerian forces if they found me, because of my relation to Wolf. But it didn't matter. I hated Wolf, I hated Venom, and I hated Andross. I hated what they all did to me. I wanted to join Corneria and fight, and I was sure my training would let me do that. So, I...well, I..."

She trailed off and looked down at her lap. I thought she might be tearing up at something, but when she raised her head again, she had a small grin on her muzzle. "It's stupid, I know. I don't tell many people this, but...I guess now's not the time to hide things. When I was young, more than anything, I wanted to be a...a..." She blushed and looked down at her lap again. "A superhero."

Gage cocked an eyebrow. "What?"

"You know, the costume and the cape and flying around saving the day. That kind of crap. I guess some of that was still living inside me. I knew about Dagger. Wolf's sources were top-notch, at least for awhile. They were superheroes to me, and I dreamed of joining them. I would've done anything. I knew the recruitment officer's name, and over the next few months, I posed as an Army secretary and got real close to him. Eventually, I got close enough to add my name to the tryout roster. I was in your tryout group, Gage."

"Jenna!" Gage suddenly burst out. He pointed his arm at Andrea and snapped his fingers. "Jenna...Jenna...what was it. Started with a D."

"Jenna Delohrey. I expected you to make it." She grinned again, but the grin faded. "I was so close. In the last week, they found out my real name through a more in-depth background check than I expected. I had to run. They never told the group who I was, did they?"

"No," Gage replied. "We just assumed you were cut."

She nodded. "I was heartbroken and desperate, and to make things worse, I found out that my brother had a bounty on my head. I gave up. I didn't even care when The Viper's Kiss hunted down my dingy little ship and caught me. But it turned out my brother was still a cheap bastard and they offered me a deal: they wouldn't turn me in if I became one of them. They'd done their homework on me, and I guess I looked desperate. I accepted. They're an all-female mercenary group, so I figured I might find camaraderie and feel more at home. They're great fighters. They taught me a lot."

"I see where this is going," I said. Apparently, Gage did also. He stopped and chimed in.

"Let me see if I can finish the story. You became one of the Vipers and loved it there, but then years later, this mystery video shows up. The Vipers can't resist and decide to hunt Fox down. Your old feelings for Corneria creep back and you can't do it. So you volunteer for a dangerous mission to sneak aboard the Great Fox and kill Fox. But in reality, you came here to...do what?"

She hesitated a moment, then said, "To join you."

Gage laughed, but I was too surprised to. I thought it might be sarcasm for a moment, but her face was serious as a priest in a sermon. I leaned forward. "Then why all the sabotage? ROB? The armory? Hiding?"

"I was scared. I messed with your robot pilot to keep him from triggering security. I was going to wait in the open for you, but I saw on the monitors that you came back with Gage. I thought he wouldn't wait for talk and would kill me. I didn't recognize him at first. So I panicked and tried to get to some weapons." She swallowed. "I was just scared. I never did covert work before. The Vipers sent me only because I was the only one left to volunteer. The best assassins went to strike at you on Corneria."

I sat back and clicked my teeth in thought. An ally from the O'Donnell family? I could see that appearing in a book of the galaxy's greatest ironies. There was a lot that I either had to trust her on or not. I would have to take her word on a ton of things, and hearing this after finding her skulking around my ship wasn't a great first impression. Nonetheless, I couldn't bypass any hope for allies in this war. I glanced up at Gage. He had a thoughtful expression on, not his skeptical squinting gaze. To even get Gage to consider it was quite a feat for Andrea.

"You said you want to join me, right?" I asked rhetorically. "For someone who got scared from just Gage here, there's a lot more out there. Every mercenary group in the galaxy will be after us, and they won't show mercy on my allies. I'd find out the ratio of them to us, but I can't count that high. We have no military support. You understand?

She nodded firmly.

"Why do you want to do this?"

She blinked and stared back, as if the answer was so obvious yet just out of reach. After a few moments, she said, "I haven't done the right thing in so long. I guess this is the closest I'll ever come to being a superhero."

The next morning
Great Fox, bridge
0933 hours

Fortuna loomed ahead in the bridge window like a giant scoop of vanilla ice cream in a pool of hot fudge. Whether that particular sundae held sanctuary or another lost hope, we had yet to find out. Gage had assured me that the abandoned base was only remembered by a select few and it was miles away from any settlement. He knew a lot about the unknown parts of Lylat, so I was willing to keep faith. In any case, I wanted to be ready, and I walked to the rec room to find Gage and tell him to prep weapons.

I was worried when I heard loud voices coming from the range. Ever since our talk with Andrea the night before, Gage had been annoyed and hostile towards her. I didn't expect him to trust her, of course; Gage wasn't an easily trusting guy. We had argued into the night when I allowed her one of the guest rooms instead of the cell. Finally, I put my foot down and told him I was willing to take the risk and as long as she was living in my ship, my rules would be word. He huffed away, muttering something about keeping an eye on her.

I didn't like the thought of them alone in a room with lots of firepower. I jumped and broke into a sprint when I heard a string of shots.

As I burst into the room, hand hovering over my pistol, I saw Andrea holding up a handgun and shaking it at a disgruntled Gage's face.

"See?" she said with an I-told-you-so inflection. "The mark four has a faster rate of fire, if you can get your little fingers to fire that quickly."

"Are you nuts?" Gage snapped back, snatching the gun and twirling it by the trigger guard before aiming at the same target. "Your shots are all over the place. You're a rookie; take the time to aim. Take it and fire smoothly."

He fired only slightly slower than Andrea's shots, and the lasers all struck home in the center of the head.

"Besides," he continued, "the mark four's power sucks. If you want to stop anything heavier than an ant, you have to go with the Tyriend 47F. It's the next step up."

"Yeah? What's your gun then?"

"ArmaCorp X97. Dagger standard issue. Little heavy for a girl like you."

"Ass. Give me that thing."

Gage looked a little miffed at having Black Beauty snatched from him, but he made no move to grab it back. Andrea aimed and fired, actually hitting the target, but shaking a bit from the recoil. She fired a few more times, each moving closer to the center, but not quite hitting the little target circle.

"God, give me that before my gun blows itself up out of shame." Gage took his gun back and holstered it. "If everyone shot like you, I might've spent less time in an infirmary."

"Two days with it, and I can shoot better than you," Andrea spat back. "And let's not compare infirmary time. I bet I—"

"Hey," I interrupted. I had to stop them before they started comparing battle scars or challenging each other to drinking contests or something. "Hate to break this up, but we'll be in Fortuna's atmosphere in a few hours. Can you get some weapons ready?"

Gage nodded. "I'll take her with me. Maybe she'll learn something." He looked at his watch and his eyes widened. "Wait! I got a surprise for you first."

He jogged away towards the rec room, pulling me along. Andrea tailed us.

"I saw this on the news earlier. They have this whole debate segment devoted to you."

"What?"

Gage flipped the viewscreen on and plopped down on the couch. I joined him while Andrea lingered by the doorway. Maybe she didn't feel comfortable enough yet to lounge. We watched the last two commercials before Corneria Media Network news came back on with the familiar feline anchor.

"Good morning, this is CMN News. Today we have with us Advisor Harold Marshall and General Holden Pepper to discuss the issues surrounding what has come to be known as the Mercenary War, specifically Fox McCloud. The largest controversy, of course, is whether formal aid should be given to his protection. The views, like the polls, are split down the middle. Advisor Marshall, could you begin please?"

The camera cut to a young avian, probably in his early twenties. "Yes, thank you. The recent videos that sparked this so-called war are a tragedy, of course, but the military policy on mercenaries is very clear. They are their own organizations, and do not qualify for military protection. The recent conflict in Corneria City proves the disaster that can come with funding, for lack of a better word, rogues."

"Rogues?" Pepper cut in. "To call Fox McCloud and StarFox rogues is to dishonor the amazing feats they did in Corneria's time of trouble. They fought tirelessly for this galaxy, and I for one was sickened to have to inform Fox that we would not return the favor."

I couldn't help but grin. It gave me a good feeling to hear Pepper say that.

"For money, General," the avian replied. "He received quite a handsome fee for his services."

Gage nodded and said, "He's got a point there." I rolled my eyes as he grinned.

"And the official soldiers of our armed forces?" Pepper said. "Are they not paid for their service? Would you call them mercenaries?"

Good one, old man! Sock it to this snot-nosed kid. Marshall looked like he would've been in diapers back when the war happened. It took him a second to recover from the retort.

"No, general, but they are kept within the military's rules. Mercenaries live by their own rules."

"McCloud has been nothing but good for this planet. To see him treated like this puts me at shame."

"You would put our people in immense danger for this?"

Pepper was getting heated. "I would expect the people to do that for themselves! Honor, gratitude, and courage are words that you have swept under the carpet. Fox is of our people, Marshall. And he is now alone, under siege, and his team in peril."

I cocked an eyebrow. "What's he talking about?"

Gage shrugged.

The camera cut back to the anchor. "Tempers are high in light of the most recent video to come from the unknown source behind the offer for McCloud's capture or death. The man in the video this time tells of the tragic fate of The Guardians, a small mercenary group that fought with Corneria in the war and avidly sought to join Fox McCloud in his current struggle. Also, the fate of the other members of StarFox remains unknown."

I felt a knot in my stomach. I assumed my team had gone somewhere safe and were following my orders by not contacting me. When the camera showed the familiar shadowy figure, the one I hoped to never see again, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the bad gut feeling that was rarely wrong.

"People of Lylat," the mystery figure said. "The response for my offer is gratifying, but the hunt is taking an oddly long time to find one man. I believe this may be because of outside help. I am here to address that topic."

He held up a gloved hand and a small light illuminated it. A bloody patch sat in his open palm, the emblem of The Guardians. "Captain Kingston and his mercenaries from The Guardians were brave and honorable to take up their stance against my cause. However, their act was foolish and in vain. The twenty-three members of their organizations are now dead or in my custody. Consider this a warning: the same fate awaits anyone known to side with Fox McCloud.

"To Fox McCloud, I can only say that you have been a worthy prey so far. But only pain awaits you and those close to you, should you continue to run. These belong to those I speak of." He extended his other hand, holding three triangular belt buckles that were standard issue of the team. "They are alive, for now. You have one week. My offer still stands to the good people of Lylat."

The screen flashed back to the anchor, but I flipped it off and stared at the black screen, the volatile mixture of fear and rage building up in my blood. Andrea still stood by the door, her hands covering her muzzle in surprise. She slowly walked over, probably debating whether to attempt to comfort me or run for her life. But I wasn't mad at her. I was mad at the mercs, the figure, the smarmy Marshall, and everyone who was perfectly okay with letting my team die. I don't know how long I sat there, breathing through my nose, forcing my brain to extinguish its own fire and think rationally.

Peppy...Slippy...Falco...there was no way in hell I was letting them die because of this.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Gage. He wasn't a huge talker, but when he did speak, it always made a morbid kind of sense.

"They're doing just like they did to Jack. They're cowards. They'll target those close to you. But this time, we don't have the officers telling us to sit still. We can do something about it." He waited a moment, then said, "Listen to me, Fox. You're a good man. Good men usually feel fear first, resolve second. Fear of failing your team, fear of dying, whatever. But every person has his breaking point. Every person has the point where the fear is destroyed by pure, one hundred percent will. The first Dagger had that. I had that. It might take more to push you over the edge, but for now, we have to act so it doesn't come down to that."

Breaking point...I thought I experienced that when Andross killed my parents. But that wasn't it. That was anger. That was vengeance. With Andross, it was all about me and drowning out my own pain. Now was the time Gage spoke of, and I didn't need to hit my breaking point to realize that I had to act. This time, it was about my team.

I looked up at Andrea. She was looking at me with an almost guilty expression, and I knew right then I could trust her. Gage wouldn't have been a fan of my "instinct" but I didn't care. I knew that look. Without her help, my team might not stand a chance, so I was willing to take the risk. She seemed to realize the question my glance asked her and she nodded quickly.

"Yeah...yeah, I'm in. The Vipers might know something. We could start there."

I nodded and stood. "When we land on Fortuna, we set up a headquarters as quickly as possible. Use the base's old defense systems, set up some of our own, get all the equipment online, and stock weapons and food. By tomorrow night, I want to be able to start planning. I want to hit every merc group on that list until we have the information we need to lead us to this shadowy bastard. By the weekend, I want to turn on the news and hear about the trail of destroyed mercenary groups, got it?" They nodded. "We have one week. And not a moment to lose."

--Chapter 6 coming soon--