-Author's Note: I'm thankfully able to get this update out much sooner than the last one, albeit once again shorter than I would have liked. However, the next and following chapters will be back to the normal half Fox/half Gage setup. As always, thank you for the reviews and continued readership. Thanks for reading and enjoy-Foxmerc-

CHAPTER 9
Trouble in Paradise
Warrior construction site, Katina
0722 hours

"Can't this thing go any faster?"

Arthur "Torq" Torqinski gave me an annoyed glance over his shoulder from the pilot's seat and said, "For the bloody last time, Gage, it's a dropship, not a fighter. I'm pushing it as far is it'll go."

"Anything on the comm yet?"

"Lots of chatter from the Warriors. They're scrambling defenses, talking about McCloud." He hesitated. "I can't raise Fox."

"Keep trying." I sighed. "And pray he didn't find Lombardi yet. The damn bird has the drop."

I double and triple-checked my gear until I was satisfied that I could take on any kind of army they had down there; the standard Dagger loadout proved sufficient, as usual: the black jumpsuit and load-bearing harness that felt like a second layer of skin by now, good ole Black Beauty on my hip, and an assault rifle rested across my lap. I didn't have an extra suit with me, so Andrea borrowed some standard army gear from the Solar Wind. I was still surprised; she could make anything look good. I looked up to see her fiddling with her own rifle on the other side of the vacant dropship; not the kind of fiddle to fix something, but the kind a nervous finger does when the mind is deep in worry.

"You okay?" I asked as nonchalantly as possible.

She nodded, keeping her eyes down. "Just thinking about how Fox will feel when he finds out Falco betrayed him."

"Probably like how he felt when he thought I did, if not more. Falco was one of his oldest friends, not to mention his teammate." I added after a moment, "You know, you don't have to do this. Who knows what kind of storm Fox has stirred up down there? And you're not exactly a combat veteran."

God help me, I was starting to sound like Fox.

She looked up at me with pursed lips and a scrunched nose and said, "I saved your ass in that bar in Harverton, so don't give me that. Besides, this is the first time I…well…it's the first time I've wanted to risk my life for someone."

She looked down again. I don't know whether she meant me or Fox, or maybe both, but I left it at that. Fortunately, Torq broke the tense air with some good news.

"Look alive back there! The island's in view and I just picked up Fox's signal. Patching him through to your radio now, private signal. Get him to guide me in."

I stood with a start, grabbed a beam above me to keep me steady, and put my hand to my ear. At first, all I got was static, but after repeating his name a dozen times, a faint voice finally broke through. I tried again.

"Fox? Fox, do you read me?"

"Gage? Is that you?"

I breathed a sigh of relief. "What the hell were you thinking coming here alone? Listen Fox, I've got to tell you something. We found out who—"

"I know," he replied softly. "I let him go. I…I saw him, and…Gage, I'm sorry."

I didn't know quite how to respond. It was good news that it didn't affect him so badly that he blew his own brains out, but it couldn't be good for his current mentality in a battle situation. Dagger training kicked in. "You can apologize later. We have to get you out of there, so focus for now, alright? What's your status?"

Silence for a moment. "Not too good. I have Peppy and Slippy with me, but Peppy's in bad shape. I got cut off from my Arwing, and now the whole base is on alert."

I hurried to the cockpit and looked out over the island. Torq began a slow circling of it. I saw the landing pad with Fox's ship, but the mercs were all over it like ants on honey. Around the other end of the island, the large mountain in the middle gave way to a stretch of flat land covered with crude construction rigging. It looked like they were building some kind of base, but were early in production. Past the construction yard was the shore, complete with a large harbor accommodating half a dozen small patrol boats. Definitely enough room to land there.

Only problem was the couple dozen mercs in the construction yard that didn't feel like letting their guest depart. We'd have to gently persuade them.

"Ok, listen up, Fox. Make your way to the east exit, but watch for multiple hostiles. Our pilot's going to land at the harbor and pick you up. Andrea and I will cover you from above. Got it?"

"Yeah." A burst of gunfire crackled across the comm line. "Tell me when to come out."

I tapped Torq on the shoulder and pointed to the construction scaffold. "Drop me there, and drop Andrea on the other side. We'll cover him from there. Make a hot landing on the harbor once he's across."

He nodded.

Time for a little modification. Thanking the brass once again for making multi-role training a requirement in Dagger, I dropped my assault rifle on my seat and retrieved a sniper rifle. I loaded up on ammo and tossed a second one to Andrea. "You know how to fire one of these?"

She took it and looked it over with an almost confident air that I hadn't seen in her yet. "I'm a fast learner."

"Simple. Put the crosshairs over whatever you want to stop moving, pull the trigger. Twenty shots in a mag. Fire after an exhale, not an inhale. If you have to miss, miss low, don't go for the head. Check your surroundings every few seconds for anyone sneaking up on you."

She nodded.

Gunfire pinged off the dropship's hull as Torq slowed down over the first high scaffolding. I secured the sniper rifle over my back. I released the ship's door, inviting in a blast of warm air, and hesitated not a moment before grabbing a coiled zipline and leaping out. The cord burned my gloves all the way down until I alit soft as a bird on the coarse wooden scaffold. I immediately fell to my stomach and readied the sniper rifle as some of the mercs turned their attention to me. I was counting on that; I had a feeling Andrea's entrance wouldn't be quite as graceful as mine and enemy fire wouldn't help. Torq flew to the other scaffold a couple hundred yards across from me and a second zipline fell from the door. Will wonders never cease; she landed hard, but on her feet nonetheless, and took my cue of immediately hitting the deck. The dropship left to circle the island.

I felt like a kid in a candy store with all the targets below me, none even having a chance of hitting me with the way they were aiming. I pulled out the rifle's bipod, rested it on the edge, thumbed the safety off, and looked through the scope. Normally, the scope would have to be calibrated back at base to make sure it was aligned, but being the weapon switch was improvised, I decided to test it out on one of the mercs. I took careful aim and fired. The sand and rock around him exploded in a splash of red and he dropped. Perfect.

I heard a similar shot and looked up to see Andrea recovering from the kick of her own rifle. No merc joined my dead target on the ground. I was starting to regret letting her come along when she fired again and a merc crouching behind a pile of cinder blocks fell, arms wrapped around his stomach. He writhed for a moment, then lay still. Maybe she really was a fast learner.

"Fox, we're in position. Use the construction vehicles and supplies as cover and keep moving."

"Right. Coming out."

The heavy steel door in the mountain lumbered open. It diverted some of the mercs' attention, giving me a couple clean shots. A particularly messy shot blew half a wolf's head off. I groaned; it was that shit that made me hate my job some days, especially sniping. The scope gives me center seat to all the crap I'd rather not see. It never got any easier, even after all these years.

Fox came through the door a bit slower than I would have liked, but I couldn't blame him; he had Peppy Hare draped over his shoulder like an overweight scarf. Slippy trailed, firing a pistol. It almost looked comical, but there was nothing remotely funny about the situation. The trio crouched behind a stack of crates as a few mercs took aim and fired. I fired back for Fox, nailing two in the back. A few were starting to get gutsy and grouped in the center. I knew the beginnings of a flank attack when I saw one.

"Fox, do you have any grenades?"

"Yeah, a couple."

"You got a bunch straight ahead of you. Toss one over your crate."

After a few seconds, a little black dot sailed over the crate and landed at the feet of the lead merc. They all dove for cover and I averted my scope. We waited…and waited. I cursed and put the scope back over the grenade.

"Dammit, dud," Fox said. "I have one more. Are they still there? Should I throw again?"

The scared mercs scoffed and moved back to their cover. I put a steady bead on the tiny grenade.

"No," I replied, "that's alright."

I exhaled and fired. The grenade exploded with gratifying heat, clearing a nice path through the mercs for Fox to head up to more cover.

"Move up," I said.

As he did so, I noticed shots coming at me, but from level ground. I peered over the scope and saw Andrea aiming at my scaffold. A couple more shots passed under me.

"Andrea, what the hell are you shooting at—"

A final shot and my question was answered. With a yelp, a merc fell from the scaffold and landed with a thud on the ground. The sneaky bastard had been trying to get up at me.

"That's two you owe me now," she said over the comm.

I grunted and returned my attention to Fox, but took the new knowledge and kept an eye on Andrea's scaffold. The rest of the mercs must have seen the one that learned the hard way and kept on the ground. Their shots were getting closer, and I was starting to get nervous. When one shot pulverized the wooden plank next to me and singed my fur, I turned my attention to the mercs shooting at me and let Fox lay low for a minute. Things were quickly becoming unacceptable. The Warriors were adapting, and we wouldn't last much longer without one getting off a good or lucky shot.

"Fox," I said, scanning the area through the scope, "you gotta move. Can you trust me?"

A moment of hesitation. "Yes."

"Then take your team and get to the harbor as fast as you can. Stop for nothing. Don't take cover. Leave the mercs to me and Andrea. Okay?"

The familiar deep breath of a man who knew well enough that it could be his last. "Yeah."

"Go."

Fresh mag in my rifle, and with the intention to use every last round, I covered Fox as he, Hare over his shoulder, broke cover and ran for the harbor with Slippy in tow. The mercs seemed surprised by the move, but I opened up before they could gather whatever wits they had. My shots were echoed by Andrea's rifle, and I saw a few fall by her fire. Complete instinct took over. If a brow twitched, an arm raised, or a foot pivoted in Fox's direction, I snapped the crosshairs to the poor sap's chest and fired. It was too close to my taste, some coming within arm's reach or level aim of Fox, but I kept up with it.

In fact, I suppose Andrea and I were a pit too engrossed…

I heard a creak behind me and looked over my shoulder. My heart skipped a beat at the sight of a gaping pistol barrel with a burly cougar behind it. Fortunately, combat instinct was still on at full gear. I whipped my head back and felt the burning heat of the laser as it barely missed. I kept rolling into a kick that punted the pistol over the edge, but this merc wasn't done yet. The damn sniper rifle was too bulky to bring up quickly and the cougar knocked it away with ease. He pulled a knife from his belt and lunged, but that day I stuck by my philosophy of always being prepared. I pulled my own knife from my boot and shoved it into the unsuspecting throat as the Warrior came down on me. He gave a short gurgle of surprise and his blade clattered to the scaffold. I pushed the load off me and rolled back over to retrieve my rifle, but the bastard had knocked it over the edge. I suddenly felt very naked.

"Gage!"

"Gage, behind me!"

It was like a nightmare coming true. Across the way, another couple ballsy mercs had made their way up to Andrea. She managed to off one, but the other grabbed her and they were struggling. Below, at least three mercs tailed Fox out of the construction site and into the harbor. He had no defense on the bare docks. With a deep breath, I pulled out the only weapon left with a chance in hell: Black Beauty.

I closed my eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. When I opened them again, the island lay before me in silence, as if time had been slowed down. I could never forget the hours upon hours of focus exercises. A gun was only as good as the soldier firing it. I no longer felt my hand; simply a run-on from the flesh in my arm to its extension, the gun. I raised it towards Andrea and leveled the sites. She and her assailant were two specks in the distance, but still visible, and if it was visible, it could be shot. I kept my arms firm and my eye unwavering, waiting for the opportune moment. Finally, Andrea landed a good knee to the merc's stomach and he doubled back. I fired once. He fell to the deck under Andrea's shocked stare.

I didn't hesitate; I shifted my aim to Fox. He was further away with moving targets behind him. After a moment, I said, "Fox, stop and turn around."

I guess he really did trust me again. He immediately did so, Slippy careening into him, and the three mercs halted as well. Much better. I fired three quick taps. Two fell, but the last one still stood and looked around. I tried to re-steady my aim, but before I could, a final shot took the remaining merc down. Andrea had recovered and had her rifle back against her shoulder.

I lowered my pistol and let out a breath of relief. Fox continued to where Torq waited with the dropship and loaded up. Any remaining mercs must have figured they'd had it; the gunfire stopped and the few remnants retreated back inside. I'd read up on the Warrior's numbers, and that fight was a severe cripple, not including whatever damage Fox did. I holstered my pistol with satisfaction and waited for Torq to get me. For the first time, I noticed the beautiful breeze and gazed at the dawn sun over the water. If only all my fights could be in such nice places. Maybe one day I wouldn't have to count on a battle to travel to somewhere like this.

-Chapter 10 coming soon-