Author's Note: I know it's been, well, too long since I updated. But I swore I would finish this and I'm going to. Many things have kept me from writing, especially this, but I want to finish it and finish it strongly. To constant readers, welcome back and I hope you enjoy the rest. To new readers, I hope you enjoy the whole story from the start. So thanks again and enjoy! --Foxmerc


CHAPTER 16
A Dagger to the Heart
Venom atmosphere
1233 hours

Five minutes into Venom's airspace. Their radar definitely would have picked up the dropship by now. I gripped the sidebar, took a deep breath, and looked around the red-tinted interior at my team, each steadying himself (and herself) as the ship jarred and quaked. I always hated dropships, especially the windowless armored classes. God knows which way we were going or how bad the situation looked outside. They always felt like metal coffins on their way to being buried at very high speeds. The good news was that there wouldn't be much left to worry about sending home to mother if we got shot down.

The pilot's voice crackled in my ear. "Four minutes."

I released by harness, stood, and raised my hand for my team's attention. We weren't even in the hot air yet and I felt sweat being sopped up by my desert camo. "Listen up! Check your weapons and prepare for rapid deployment. Remember the briefing; Federjak is a poor, congested city that was built for Venom army soldiers. It's old with twisting streets, stucco and brownstone buildings…all the stuff that makes urban combat a nightmare. The missile launch facility is right on the outskirts, so it's safe to say the remnant forces still use Federjak. Avoid the city at all costs; we'll be dropped near the facility so there's no reason to go near it. Primary evac LZ will be to the south-west once the facility is blown. All remnant forces are shoot on sight. It's a safe bet Arthur Torqinski of the Black Scythe is here. Use caution. Any questions?"

No questions.

"Stay focused, stay alert, and we'll all go home. Follow my—" A sharp hit smacked the dropship and I immediately smelled smoke.

"Triple-A on the ground," the pilot said over the radio, his voice cool but curt. "Tagged the starboard engine. We might need to make an emergency landing, prepare for—"

Another hit filled the ship with smoke and I didn't need the pilot to tell me that we were going down. I dropped back into my seat as warning alarms blared and gravity gave me a splitting headache. I barely had time to call out, "Prepare for impact!" before my innards rolled and the deafening sound of crunching metal filled my ears.

Then all went dark.

I opened my eyes to two very unpleasant things: bright light and gunfire. A hot breeze stung my cheek with Venomian sand and I had to blink a good dozen times before I could sit up and look around. Ley knelt over me and beyond her I saw a sight that made my gut wrench. The dropship had crashed in an alleyway between two rundown buildings and lasers criss-crossed the air above us. We landed in Federjak, the hometown of the remnant Venom soldiers.

"You alright, sir?" Ley asked. She held my rifle, which I took as I stood, my head still roiling.

"What's the situation?"

She hooked a thumb at the wrecked dropship. "The pilot's dead. Tien lost a tooth, but that's it, besides some cuts and bruises. DeLaine can see the missile site from this roof here. He figures we're only a few klicks out. Remnant soldiers are already converging on our position.

I nodded, ignoring the voice in my head that told me the game was over. I smacked the side of my helmet, heard the faint blip that told me my radio still worked, and clicked it on. "Dagger, assemble on the south alley. Hart, cover the rear. We'll move in a single-line formation."

I took the lead and started the mission off with a three-round burst down the alley that dropped a soldier. I didn't get to feel proud of myself for long; a hellfire of lasers rained on us from rooftops and street level when we rounded the alley into a wider road. We hoofed it, taking cover behind vehicles and doorways, returning sporadic fire when we could. Braddock pulled out the bipod on his heavy MG, dropped it on the roof of a car, and let loose with a barrage that chewed up the buildings. Soldiers dropped and soon the hellfire became a light drizzle. The rest of us took aim and popped any that decided to peek out.

Though playing peek-a-boo with my rifle was more fun than being shot at, we had to move. If any civilians did still hang around, they took the hint and got their asses indoors. Plenty of soldiers still lurked. I was tipped off when a chunk of the wall beside me exploded. We ducked behind cover as Hart shouted out the obvious. "Sniper!"

"I got it," DeLaine called back. "Tower west."

I glanced at the tower in the distance. Sure seemed likely, though I couldn't see a bloody thing. DeLaine dropped to prone, the wolf's tail twitching back and forth as always when he concentrated on a target. He steadied his breathing, the scope against his right eye, and didn't even flinch when another shot kicked up rubble by his arm. His return fire pierced the air and I could barely see a shadow of a form fall from the tower.

"Hell yeah," he said with a grin as he hopped to his feet. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement from a rooftop. I swiveled and fired, but I dropped the soldier too late. He managed to loose a burst at the only one of us not under cover. It was rushed, a lucky shot. That's the only thing we in Dagger fear…lucky shots. DeLaine dropped, his rifle clattering beside him.

"Damn it!" I broke cover, fire from both sides immediately erupting. I grabbed his ammo belt and dragged him back behind the vehicle, but it was too late. One of the lasers cut right through his heart. I clenched my eyes shut and balled my hands into fists over his dead body. There was nothing I could do. We had to move. And worse, we had to leave him behind. I looked at my team. Their pained faces told me they knew that.

"Move out," I said in a strained voice. Then, more strongly, "Get to that corner! Go!"

I ejected my mag and slapped in my third. Ammo was plentiful, but so were the enemy soldiers. I stopped counting around fifteen when my eardrums started aching. After another two blocks of running from cover to cover and returning fire, I peeked around the corner and breathed in relief. The road ended in a gate which led to another half mile or so of open desert, then the missile facility. Unfortunately, a line of soldiers, two tanks, and a machine gun-mounted buggy were waiting to say hello to us and I don't think they were going to offer us a free tour.

"Tien," I said. The tiger moved up the line to my shoulder. "Take a look."

He glanced around the corner and ducked back. "Doesn't look too friendly."

"That buggy would be great for quickly traversing the open ground between here and the facility, don't you think?"

"I don't think I'm charming enough to seduce the keys away from him, sir."

"Did your launcher survive the crash?"

He patted the cylinder slung over his shoulder. "Eager and waiting, sir."

"Think you can blow the tanks without damaging the buggy."

Tien wrinkled his nose and shook his head. "It's unarmored. If the explosion doesn't get it, the shrapnel will."

I nodded and bit my lower muzzle in thought. "Ley."

She skirted up next to me. I had her take a look as well. She came back with raised eyebrows. "Even I'm not charming enough for that."

"You don't need to be. They're all facing this way. Think you can get around behind them and back that buggy up so Tien can play with the tanks?"

She looked up at the low roof and nodded. "Just do it before those soldiers notice."

"We'll throw smoke. The launcher has thermal imaging."

She clambered up the side of the building, finding footholds and shimmying the way only an intensely trained scout could. She disappeared onto the roof. After a couple minutes, I gave another look and told Tien to ready his launcher. A couple tense minutes later, a silent shadow alighted onto the sand behind the buggy, knife in her hand. It was like watching a move on mute: she cut the gunner's and driver's throats and dragged them out without even a scuff of noise. When she lowered herself into the driver's seat, I popped a smoke grenade, threw it with the energy of my youth in baseball, and hit Tien on the shoulder. He spun around the corner, dropped to one knee, and fired off a blue energy blast that produced one explosively charred tank. Before the other could swivel its gun, he targeted it and fired. The tank managed to get off a shot before it was blown to oblivion, but it connected against the building across the street and took out most of the wall. Ley mopped up the remaining troops with the buggy's machine gun.

We regrouped and Ley clutched her arm with an annoyed look. Some shrapnel had tagged her after all. Tien shrugged innocently and repeated his most-used phrase: "Explosions are wild beings."

"Take a short rest," I said as I patched up Ley's arm. "Don't let your guard down. The real mission still awaits."

I leaned up against the buggy, rifle lax at my side yet ready to be raised at a moment's notice, and kept watch on the left side of the street. The soldiers weren't formal in their attack or defense; we must have literally just woken up the neighborhood. No doubt a real attack would be called in soon. We would have to move within the next few minutes. Until then, I tried to get my train of thought back on track. I couldn't afford to let DeLaine's death affect me now. I breathed in the hot, dusty air and took a gulp from my canteen. I allowed myself one final thought of the mission before walking to the buggy and taking the front passenger seat.

"Let's move."

Macbeth airspace
1304 hours

A knot formed in my stomach as I looked out the transport window. It spread below us, a vast complex built in the middle of a Macbethian rainforest. It looked as solidly built as any military complex, but I expected that when Torqinski was in charge. A smudge on the window obscured my view a little and I would've wiped it away…if my hands weren't cuffed behind my back. As we descended to land, I shot a glance at Andrea, who was restrained the same way, and received a worried look back. We both looked at Falco in the pilot's seat.

"Unidentified craft, respond."

Falco's radio sputtered to life. He hit the receiver. "This is Lombardi. Tell Pritchard of the Wraiths that I come with gifts."

"State your business."

"I have Fox McCloud and Andrea O'Donnell."

A long silence.

"Look, just tell Pritchard to meet me at Bay 1."

"Roger. Cleared to land."

When we touched down, Falco pulled us to our feet and led us by our arms down the ramp. A door at the far end of the bay slid open and a white tiger entered, flanked by four armed men in white uniforms. The Wraiths, a particularly nasty merc group that prides itself on being stealthy. Pritchard was slight in appearance but rumor and reputation placed him as one of the top killers in the galaxy. I wouldn't doubt it; I'd had a run-in or two with his cronies in the past. Falco released us and stepped forward.

"You were right," Falco said with a wide grin. "I gotta hand it to you, it worked perfectly. I knew he'd take me back if I played the regretful ass-kisser well enough."

Pritchard gave him a wary look but soon smiled back. "Subtlety always wins out over force, Lombardi. Your timing couldn't have been better. All the heads are here in anticipation of General Torqinski's attack. When they see that we brought in McCloud and the traitor from the Vipers, those who doubt the plan will have faith." He directed his eyes towards me. "You'll learn a lesson in subtlety here, McCloud. Corneria has always fought Venom and Venom has always fought Corneria. But it will be an alliance of mercenaries that ultimately wins. It's a shame you didn't want in on it."

"Go to hell."

Pritchard just chuckled. I hated the bastard already. "My men will escort them to the holding cells. Come with me, Lombardi. We need to let the heads know."

Falco nodded and stepped back as the four mercs took us by the shoulders and roughly pushed us forward. I didn't resist; I just waited for the light show. The first merc, the one by Andrea's right, dropped without a sound, just a flash of red light. The one next to me turned but caught a silenced laser in the head that dropped him as well. Unfortunately, he fell roughly and alerted the three remaining Wraiths. Falco was able to pop one more before Pritchard and his remaining merc fired back. Andrea and I hit the deck as Falco dropped the last merc and clicked on a depleted energy clip. Pritchard fired wildly as he bolted for the door. He got away, but it didn't matter. He'd only die tired.

"Son of a bitch," Falco cursed. "That could've gone better. Good plan in theory." He unlocked our cuffs and we ran back to the transport. The alarm would be raised, but we all knew it would have been eventually anyway. We packed a few assault rifles, half a dozen submachine guns, lots of pistols, and enough ammo to supply army basic for a year…and we made use of all of it. Loaded and ready for the base ahead of us, we stepped back into the docking bay just as the alarm blared.

"Once we locate the map, we'll split up. You two go for the Viper prisoners LaMonte mentioned. With their help, go to the west generator and set your charge. Kill any merc you see. I'll head for the east generator and blow it. ROB will cover the docking bays with the Great Fox's main gun and blow away anyone trying to leave. Once the charges are set, we book it. Ok?"

They nodded but I added one more thing.

"Remember what they're trying to do and remember what they did to us. The Arcothans, the Wraiths, Ice Storm, the Curse, the Bloodhounds, and the Warriors. We're not leaving until the heads of each mercenary group are killed and this complex lies in ruins. We have to take them all out. All of them. Whatever it takes. We got it?"

Falco nodded. "We fly together, we die together."

Andrea nodded solemnly. I was still touched that she opted to help us rather than accompany Dagger. Gage was more than happy to keep her away from his near-suicide mission as well, though this mission wasn't turning out much better.

With that, we turned to the door, Falco's words still echoing off the steel walls.

-Conclusion coming soon- (For real)