Author's Note: As always, thank you all for the very generous reviews. I'm very glad that this story is enjoyable that widely. This chapter is only from the Fox side and sort of an interlude to set up the conclusion of the story. I didn't want to go further and into the Gage side because the next segment is large and a chapter in itself. Because it's been so long since this story started, some readers may have to take a glance back at the beginning when you reach the end. Well, you'll see, I won't ruin it. And to BlackSwordsman, I apologize for not answering your question in the last update, so here it is now: The time setting of this story follows the same rules as my others; I base everything on the StarFox 64 foundation. So Great Fox, snowy Fortuna, StarWolf, all that. That was when I started writing. I was not exactly a fan of SF Adventures and Assault went into territory I also didn't want to implement. All my stories are seperate and in "alternate" universes. This is actually the second time I've killed StarWolf and the second time I've used Gage. What can I say, I love the character. So long story short, this is based solely on the 64 universe. I hope this answers the question. Once again, thanks to everyone and enjoy! -Foxmerc
CHAPTER 12Complications
CNS Solar Wind, Solar orbit
1243 hours
"I got him."
They say that sometimes a traumatically unconscious patient can still hear things. I sure hope this was one of those times. For years I wanted nothing more than to tell Peppy those words, to let him know that the man who killed my father, his comrade, was dead. It felt good saying it, like a release, but it did nothing to allay my worry that Peppy may never wake up again. Slippy had been faithfully by his side, not looking like a million bucks himself, but at least among the living. He glanced up at me as I said the words, as if he had waited as long as I had to hear that, just so he could see my face. I must have looked just like I felt – exhausted, satisfied – because he gave me a little grin and lowered his eyes to Peppy again.
After a few moments listening to Peppy's steady heartbeat reflected on the monitor beside me, I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Gage. It looked like he had finally gotten some sleep after giving Admiral Satcher a full brief and heading a bug and tracker scan of the entire Solar Wind. Torqinski had left nothing behind; just another piece in the growing puzzle. I stood, nodded goodbye to Slippy, and followed him out into the ship's corridors.
"It doesn't make sense," I said, starting a ponderous pace. "All the fanfare, all the money. He hijacked the entire galaxy's network feed to broadcast my bounty, hired countless mercenaries, and that's all after stealing billions worth of money and gold, some of it from the top secret reserve Andross left behind…all when he could have stepped right up to me and shot me in the head before I knew what hit me." I shook my head. "It was never about me."
"You brought down Andross," Gage replied, "therefore ending Black Scythe's operations. It makes sense he would want you dead. But Black Scythe soldiers are pros…they wouldn't go this far for petty revenge. You were the icing on the cake. We have to find out what the cake is. Arthur knows we know, so he'll probably step up whatever timetable he has."
I nodded. It was like a progressive nightmare. Every time one mystery was solved, another one, bigger and scarier than the last, was there to take its place. I sighed through my nose and rubbed my sore eyes. "What do we do?"
"Well, if we can prove there's some bigger threat, the military will step in. Deep salvage teams are recovering what they can from the sunken ship now, so we just have to wait. Until then, we got a…little surprise."
"Fuck, what now? Aliens come to claim the bounty?"
"A prisoner. Well, a voluntary prisoner. Seems you didn't wipe out all of the Vipers. She approached the Solar Wind and surrendered this morning, refused to talk to anyone but you. Satcher cleared us for a little chat in an hour."
"A Viper…does Andrea know?"
"Yeah, but she doesn't even want to know her name. Still in her room. Blowing her brother's face off took a bit out of her."
I chuckled. "Hard to believe StarWolf's finally gone. If any good came of this mess, it's that. Well, that and Andrea." I looked sideways at him.
He raised his eyebrows at me. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You haven't taken your eyes off her since you nearly knocked her out on the Great Fox."
"What? I'm not—"
I pushed him against the metal wall. "Oh please, you're about as subtle as a nuclear bomb."
"Yeah, whatever. Just be in the cell block in an hour and don't let Andrea hear you babbling about this lovey shit or I'll mail your ass to Arthur."
I rolled my eyes as he lightly punched me in the shoulder and walked away; of course, "lightly" to Gage meant I walked the rest of the way to the galley rubbing my shoulder. An hour; not enough time to really rest, but enough time to eat what I could while contemplating what this new prisoner meant. Half of me wished I could just have one damn day off while the other half didn't want to sleep until this war was over. Whatever information this Viper had would probably determine which half would get its wish.
The hour crawled on the wall clock. Before leaving the galley, I practiced a new but very ingrained tradition: I prepared for the exact opposite. The prisoner wanted to talk, so I prepared for action. Paranoia was no longer a nagging voice in my brain, but an angel on my shoulder. I loaded up my handgun and clicked the safety off before heading to meet Gage.
1403 hours
Marisa LaMonte, a young black feline, ran her finger back and forth across the metal table before her, her tail and left foot moving in nervous rhythms. Though reflecting her edginess, there was something haunting about her face. I knew it before Gage even gestured through the one-way window and said it.
"She's the daughter of Commander LaMonte of the Vipers. That's right, the same Commander LaMonte you taunted while waiting for our missiles to blow her and her Viper sisterhood out of the sky."
Life was turning into a violent sitcom. "What the hell does she want? If I killed her mother, I'll bet she's not here to invite me to the funeral."
Gage shrugged. "All she's said so far was her name and that she'll only talk to you."
I nodded and said the first, most obvious thing that came to mind. "She's going to try to kill me."
"Yeah, probably," he replied nonchalantly. "I'm going in there with you if you go. What do you want to do?"
There was no question that I was going in there, but I allowed myself a little stall time. She couldn't have any weapons; the guards would have searched her extensively. If she attempted to kill me, she'd have to rely on her own two hands. It might seem laughable to be concerned about that, but after seeing Gage do things with his martial arts abilities that would make one question the laws of physics, I pondered it thoroughly. Finally, I said, "It's a date. Tell the guards to restrain her, though. If he says it's unnecessary paranoia, tell him to glance at the news archives from the last week, then argue."
But the guard must have kept up on current events, because he gave us no shit and handcuffed Marisa's wrists behind her chair with not a word. She didn't look too happy about it. I didn't care.
I sat down across from her while Gage stood behind me looking like a bouncer; arms folded, eyes stern. She stared at me, I stared back, and it occurred to me that this was the first time I'd ever met a family member of someone I killed. It didn't make me sorry in the least. If Madam LaMonte didn't want her ass blown away, she shouldn't have tried to kill me, simple as that.
"You wanna lay out why you're here, or should we get back to our business and let you rot in the cell?" Gage always was the master of tact.
Marisa took her time looking up at Gage, then lowering her eyes again to me. "Who is this man?"
"A trusted friend."
"I said I wished to speak only to you."
"He stays." The matter was closed.
Marisa took a deep breath and let it out slowly as her head bowed. She looked mellow, resigned, as if she knew the universe had abandoned her and she alone was set to carry her burden. I identified. "I suppose it doesn't matter who I tell it to. I just wanted to see you, Mr. McCloud. I've never seen you in person, just the news and those damn stupid shows about the 'great hero' and all that."
It was like listening to someone talk about you behind your back. I didn't know quite what to say. "Well, you saw me. What do you think?"
She raised her head and squinted. "You look more…real. I see your experience in your face. You're just a man, just a normal person."
I nodded. "I am."
She tried to move her arm, but the handcuffs stopped her. An annoyed look crossed her face. She leaned forward and said, "May I request to have these removed? Metal clamping into my flesh breaks my concentration. If you think I'm here for revenge because of my mother's death, that's not the case. I'm sure your burly friend is enough security."
"I'd feel safer if I knew what you were here for."
She leaned back, shifting her hands for a more comfortable position. "Very well. I'm here to save the galaxy."
Gage scoffed behind me and I couldn't help but crack a grin. "Excuse me? I'm sorry, but I have a hard time believing the daughter of the leader of one of the most vicious mercenary groups to ever plague this galaxy wants to now save it."
"Ironic, isn't it? Humorous in a way. Sometimes life throws situations at us that are so mind-boggling, we either have to laugh at it or go crazy trying to make sense of it. I'm sure you can appreciate that, Mr. McCloud. But I assure you, there's nothing remotely funny about what I know."
My face fell back into a neutral look and I searched her cold, staring eyes. They were unreadable. Perhaps the only thing that kept me there to listen was the memory of what Gage told me Wolf said, that I was a diversion for something bigger. After a moment, I gestured to the security camera. The guard opened the door.
"You can remove the restraints."
"You sure, sir?"
I nodded.
He clicked them off and left us alone once again. Marisa leaned forward, elbows on the table, and rubbed her wrists. "Thank you."
I nodded back. "Please, continue."
"Let me say first that I don't hold a grudge against you. If a person willingly becomes a threat to someone else, that someone else can hardly be blamed for fighting back. I was…not too fond of my mother." Her gaze once again fell to the table, distant and full of memory. "My life has been one unsolvable conflict after another. I hated my mother's vision for the Vipers, but I could not leave. I did not want to kill and live a life of thievery, but I had to for survival, for acceptance. I did not want to endanger my friends, but I had to. We all had to."
"I was under the assumption that the Vipers were destroyed," I said. "Records show only the ships I destroyed and just enough personnel to man them."
Marisa shook her head. "I led a group of thirty women. We were part of the Vipers, but at the same time very different. My mother knew I didn't like the work, but she wanted her daughter in the 'family business.' We guarded supplies, escorted officers, and pulled the occasional piracy. My division was nicknamed the Little Yellows. All the Vipers who showed cowardice, a weak stomach in murder, or who even hesitated upon being ordered to torture a victim, were put in my division. The rest of the Vipers laughed at us. But look where their lives of cruelty led them."
"Where are they?" Gage asked. "What does this have to do with the galaxy's safety?"
"Patience, please. When word reached us that my mother and the rest of the Vipers were dead, I didn't know what to do. We weren't weak, and I hope you understand that. We could fight, all of us. We had courage. We had spirit. But I suppose, maybe, we were like you: mercenaries who knew that fighting for money was only tolerable when done for a good cause. But most of us knew we were stuck under my mother's boot. We took her death as an opportunity to renew the Vipers, to put the group on the right course. But our first test in virtue was too difficult.
"The Little Yellows were left out of this whole business of catching you, Mr. McCloud. We weren't trusted. But now, I felt I needed to know about it. As the new commander of the Vipers, I received all the information regarding it. I discovered that close to a dozen mercenary groups had allied and shared one large base on Macbeth as the center of operations for this endeavor. It's quite a sight, I tell you. Never had I seen so many mercenaries together for one cause. It was truly frightening."
"You've seen this base?" I asked, very interested. "Does the Shadow stay there?"
"I've seen it. And no, he doesn't. Nobody's seen him. Anyway, me and my division were summoned to the base. We went, more intent on discovery than actually joining the hunt for you. And it was during a meeting my second night there that I became suspicious of this threat I speak of. They knew I would oppose it. They were ready for me."
Almost an entire minute passed before she glanced up at me and hesitantly continued. "I'm sorry…the memory is very recent. The fate of my division haunts me like nothing I've ever felt. Right now, half of them are dead and the other half will be very soon, and their lives now are not pleasant. This Shadow has a plan to succeed where Andross failed. Some say he was a member of the elite Black Scythe. He plans to conquer the galaxy with these mercenaries as his extremely well-paid army. And to do this, he will kill millions in the blink of an eye. All this is speculation, but I am very sure of my hunch. I was too weak to further investigate by myself, so I've come to you, to warn you and hope you will stop this." She looked up at Gage. "And you, sir. If you are who my mother's scouts said you are, then surely you would remember the secret towers?"
I looked up at Gage. His face remained stone, but I knew him well enough to know that what Marisa said had pierced him. I said to Marisa, "You don't know what the plan is?"
"No. But investigate one of the towers, and you may find your answer. I pray I'm wrong, but that prayer has as much chance of coming true as any others I've given over the years."
"If I may: what happened to your division?"
She took a deep breath, as if she had prepared for the question but was hoping it wouldn't be asked. "When I told them of the Shadow's intentions, we all agreed to try and stop it. A small squad tried to sabotage the base, but they were caught, shot on sight. We made a stand at our quarters, but we never had a chance. I was separated from the division with one of my lieutenants, a good friend. We escaped, but my soldiers, my sisters, were overwhelmed. The survivors were taken prisoner. They've probably joined the other prisoners being held there, slave labor to construct Macbeth's part of the Shadow's plan. My lieutenant…she died in my arms only minutes after escaping to orbit." She looked at me, as clear as anyone's ever looked at me despite the welling of tears, and said in a strained voice. "Find it. And stop it."
"We will," I answered immediately. It hurt to look at her face. One mercenary to another, the team was the most important thing. Falco's betrayal hurt, but I don't know if I would have been able to keep going if I lost them all. "Thank you. I'll do what I can to help you out once all this is over."
She nodded. "Thank you to you as well."
It certainly wasn't the meeting I'd expected in both a good and bad way. The good part was that she didn't kill me. The bad part was that she gave us another big problem. Gage stared into space from a large corridor window and I waited for him to speak. Whatever Marisa meant by the towers, only he knew. After a minute, he pulled a pen from his pocket and stopped a passing private with a clipboard for a piece of paper. He scribbled something down, folded it half a dozen times, and handed it to me.
"I need you take this to the radio room," he said. "Tell the guy working it to send it exactly as it says. It's an encoded message to my CO."
I took the note. "What is it? What were those towers she was talking about?"
Gage sighed, looked around, and pulled me close as if we were a two-man football huddle. "Remember when all this shit started and I let you stay at the apartment in Corneria? And I came by and told you the story of the first Dagger?"
"Yeah."
"Remember how I told you they interrupted Andross' checkmate? You know, the plan to use receptor towers disguised as weather stations to send a huge EMP that would knock out every defense from Macbeth to Corneria?"
"Yeah." My eyes widened as I caught on. "Oh, shit. You think that's what Torqinski wants to do, finish what Andross never could?"
"It would take a ridiculous amount of money, work, coordination, ingenuity…but the towers still stand, though under Cornerian control. It could happen. Now look, don't get excited. It's just her hunch. We'll check one of the towers, check the coordinates for this merc base she's talking about, then we'll see. Just get that note to the radioman."
I nodded and turned, but stopped when he tapped me on the shoulder.
"By the way, it's a federal offense to read that message yourself."
I scoffed at his dry smile and continued away. "I can't read your scratch anyway."
-Chapter 13 coming soon-