FIRST CATCH
Chapter 3, now! Hopefully, things get a biiiit more interesting. Also I'd like to thank one of my dear buddies on the Discord, who actually helped me to post the second chapter there! You're big legend! This chapter goes out to him!
Luanastar doesn't own any franchises mentioned in this story.
The aura surrounding the area was tense. Silence so thick you could hear a sweat drop. Either way, Falco wasn't fazed by the new arrivals. He knew he should be, though.
The wolf strutted over to the bird, taking a seat right next to him.
"Hey, buddy. I'm not talking to a brick wall, am I?"
Falco barely gave the fearsome captain a side eye. "I ain't your buddy, Wolf. Go away."
In tow, came the chameleon and panther. The feline took a side on the left side of Falco, while the former chose to remain standing in close proximity.
"Since when did you get so snappy?" quipped the chameleon, folding his arms.
"Since when did you grow another pair? I thought I blasted yours off on Venom?" taunted Falco, standing up to meet the lizard face to face.
"Annoying bird! I am the great Leon!"
The panther beside the StarFox pilot stood up, placing his gloves between the two to part them.
"Don't be so hasty, Leon. Settle your differences elsewhere."
Leon the chameleon pilot backed off for now, so Falco took a step back onto his chair. The panther then cleared his throat, and smugly placed that rose of his closer to his nose.
"Now, allow me to introduce myself - I'm Panth-"
"I already know who you schmucks are." deadpanned Falco, leaning back onto the counter. Panther's ears drooped in disappointment as he hadn't gotten to finish his greeting. "What I'm more interested in is what you guys want outta me. I don't carry cash on me, you know."
"Listen, Lombardi. We aren't here to cause any trouble." told Wolf, the conductor of the orchestra, as he folded his legs. "We just wanna know a little something-something."
"I'm listening."
A cruel smile crept onto the wolf's face, as he gestured to Leon. Falco had a bad gut feeling about what he was about to see.
Leon reached into his back pocket, and got a grasp on something. Falco made sure he was looking sharp, just incase the rival chameleon pulled anything interesting out of that pocket.
Surprisingly, he didn't. Instead, he brought out a picture of a pink cat creature and placed it on the counter. One with piercing cerulean eyes, a pair that would make Falco's heart jump and breathing falter.
"You recognise this girl?" questioned Wolf. Falco could feel the gaze of the StarWolf captain upon his soul, and took a nervous gulp of air.
The Cornerian pilot stared at the picture briefly, and blended together a reasonable answer in a decent amount of time.
"N-Not at all."
Wolf leaned a bit closer to the falcon, maliciously. A small drop of sweat began to form on Falco's head; He could feel the heat coming from the canine like a campfire.
"Don't think I didn't hear your stutter, Lombardi. We've got intel that StarFox has been in close association with this cat since the Lylat wars."
Falco then shimmied away from the interrogator. "Geez, Lousie. Didn't you understand me? I said I don't know 'er!"
"Alright, alright. Don't get your feathers in a twist, songbird."
Smiling, Wolf then leaned back onto his seat, before swivelling around to call over the bartender, and order a drink. The ferret of a bartender came over, defusing the tension in the situation. Falco breathed a small sigh of relief, and let his shoulders dro-
"Hey bird-dude! Isn't that the chick you were talking about earlier?!"
Falco froze, as he had just been compromised by the bystander cleaning out a pint glass. The bird squirmed under the daggers being sent down on him by all three members of the rival mercenary group.
Seeing the awkward situation before him, the bartender slowly backed away and let the men do their thing. Hopefully they wouldn't make a ruckus.
The smirk that was on the leader's face grew wider, much to Falco's irritation.
"Well, well, well, Lombardi. I think that means you'll have to come with us for some… further inquiries…"
"And what makes you think I'm gonna listen to you chumps?"
Wolf slightly pulled back the open ends of his jacket to reveal the handle of a blaster. Immediately, Falco pressed his hands against his outer thighs, expecting to feel a blaster of his own. However, he felt nothing but air and his red trousers.
"Looking for something?" quipped Panther Caroso, dangling his rose petals across his own scarred cheek.
"Crud… Am I getting slow..?" Falco mused to no one but himself. Nonetheless, he stood up and complied. "In that case… Take me wherever you want, herbs. Once I get within Sargasso territory, the others would already know where I am."
Guffawing, Wolf put a hand on the reluctant falcon's shoulder. "Ain't that convenient? Since, we weren't thinking of leaving this place anyway."
"Uhhh…"
Leon and Panther joined in on the laughter, as they escorted Falco towards the (surprisingly clean) bathrooms. Falco looked back to glare at the sweating bartender, who could only shrug his shoulders and shake his head.
"You see, Peppy, this is what I hate about Falco."
Fox, Peppy and Slippy sat in the common room, where the toad occupied himself by playing games all day. The former duo were doing their own things in different parts of the room, on occasion watching the video game being played by their star engineer. In Fox's hands, he presented to Peppy Hare, Falco's blaster within his holster.
"He just leaves his blaster on the chair, and goes it to wherever! Granted, t-the safety's on, but this poses a real danger, not only to us, but to himself also!" ranted the captain, placing the blaster somewhere safer than the couch were Slippy was.
Peppy, leaning on one of the control panels, sighing exasperatedly. "Hey, don't stress about it, kid. That boy's a tough guy, albeit headstrong. I'm sure he can handle his own hide out there."
"I'm serious, Peppy!" Fox cried out, running his fingers through the fur atop his head. "What if he's gotten killed out there?"
"Fox!" Peppy shouted, a lot louder than anyone would've expected. Even Slippy paused his game over it. "You really need to calm down. Alright? Just give it another half-hour, and then you can see about paying Falco a visit."
Huffing in defeat, Fox obediently nodded. "Okay, I think you're right, Peppy. 30 minutes more only, though. I'll… I'll be in my room for now."
Following that final sentence was Fox's departure from the living room. Peppy had exhaled a sigh of relief, as he lay back in his chair peacefully. Meanwhile, Slippy was happy that he was able to continue his video game. Once the hare's acute ears picked up the sound of Fox's bedroom door opening and closing, Peppy snarkily confided in his fellow pilot.
"You know, Slip. I think he needs a… What do you guys call it..?"
"A girlfriend?"
"That's it!" Peppy exclaimed, clicking his fingers. "Someone to take the stress of being a cap'n off his shoulders."
"Ahaha! Well good luck believing in that, Peppy! Fox barely talks to girls as is!" chirped Slippy, turning off his video game.
"Don't you worry. We'll see about that one he meets the one."
The tattered bathroom door opened. 4 males entered, but only 3 had smirks on their faces. Falco was forced to sit on the surface next to the ceramic sink, with the back of his jacket kissing the mirror. The counter was cold and hard, yet above all, was the least of the bird's worries. Especially since, Falco heard the click of the door's lock.
"So what? What do you want outta me?" asked Falco, looking fixedly at the captain of the trio with disdain. "I know her, sure. What else?"
"We want her exact location." Wolf answered, crossing his arms across his armoured torso.
Falco replicated the action of the canine, crossing his arms rebelliously. "What if I told you, I don't know where she is?"
"Then, we'd have to show you a reason why having StarWolf as your enemy, isn't a good idea."
The avian ace pilot simply snorted, cocking his head.
"Is that a fact? Well, I don't know. Do your worst."
A sadistic beam manifested on Wolf's mouth. He turned to the Chameleon of the group, who also smiled and nodded. Leon then trotted to an adjacent sink, clogged the drain and let the faucet run until the reservoir was full. Next, he violently grasped Falco by the neck, and dragged off the counter and him over to the sink, where the tip of the avian's beak dipped past the waters' surface.
"So you prefer the air, eh Birdie? Let's see how you like thisss…"
Leon pushed, and the "Birdie"'s face was submerged in the not-so clean sink. Despite the fact he was sure this was supposed to be torture, Falco didn't see the issue with this technique. All you needed to do was hold your breath. Well, you do need to breathe every once in awhile, but otherwise, it was alright. Wait…
Falco began to flail desperately, flapping the wings that technically, he didn't seem to have, fighting for a breath of fresh air.
"Alright, Leon, that's enough. You're gonna kill him." ordered Wolf, to which Leon had reluctantly complied. Nevertheless, the chameleon did enjoy every second of it.
Gripping him by the feathers, Leon pulled Falco out of the water, who sputtered water about and inhaled the sweet relief of oxygen. He'd never take breathing for granted again after this.
"So, are you gonna answer my question, Lombardi?"
Coughing, Falco mustered up a reply with what little he had in his lungs.
"I sa… I said... I don't know…"
"..."
"...ya herb…"
"Leon."
"W-Wai-"
Falco had limited time to speak, before his head was dunked underwater once again. In the meantime, Leon turned around to his bystanding peers. Panther Caroso was stood up opposing the wall, while Wolf O'Donnell had remained in the exact same position that he was when they had first came in.
"You know, guys." began Leon, casually making conversation. "I'm really getting into this whole torture thing. I mean, just look at him squirm!"
Panther, who watched from the sidelines in awe, twirled his rose around. "You uhh… Do you have a woman of your own back home, Leon?"
"Yeah… We're going through some complications because of this."
"W-Wait… You do?" maffled Wolf, shocked.
"What!?" Leon yelled, still holding the spasmic bird under the water. "Wolf! I've known you for years, and you never knew!?"
"I-It's not that… Nevermind, it. We'll discuss it later. Bring him up."
"Fine…" the lizard grumbled, abseiling his arm down Falco's back, and pulling the bird back up for fresh air.
Falco scattered water droplets all over the place, as he once again writhed in agony.
"Come on, Lombardi. We just want answers." Wolf murmured, looking at the serrated claws on the ends of his fingers.
Coughing, the bird accustomed to not be underwater choked out a response - as well as some dirty sink water.
"What do you... even what with her?"
"If you didn't know, birdbrain, that cat laundered a lot of money from us after your show on Zoness." explained Leon, gripping Falco's head with steel-forged resentment. "So we were more than just broke by the time you were through with Andross."
"Ahem, the stories can wait." commanded Wolf, becoming impatient. "I want answers. Personally, I prefer getting these things over and done with promptly."
"Oh yeah?" the drenched Falco spat, looking right at the captain with an iresome indigo iris. "Well personally... I prefer... your Mom."
"..."
"Panther, break his arm."
"Oy, oy, OY!" cried Falco, bounding around in Leon's grip. "I was yankin' ya chain! I don't know where she is! I'm dead serious."
Wolf halted retorts for now, and leered at the StarFox member critically, before making a decision.
"Hmmph. What a waste of my time." concluded the careless canine, wiping dust off his shoulders. "Well, you two know what that means. Make sure you hide the body, and remember to clean up afterwards."
"W-w-w-w-w-wait, what?" stammered Falco, glancing back and forth at the two perpetrators. One of them had a crooked grin, yet the other had a look of reluctance upon his maw. "H-Hey! You're gonna just leave me dead here? Y-You can't do that?"
"Yes, we can."
"No, ya can't!"
"Yes, we can."
No, ya can't!"
To save you the hassle, this goes on for sometime. To Falco's surprise, it was the feline of the posse to come to his rescue.
"You know, Wolf. If we kill this man, we'll probably just increase the bounties over our heads. We couldn't risk the rest of StarFox coming to claim them." explained Panther, ignoring the stare being given to him by his partner Leon.
Wolf gnashed his teeth, but couldn't agree more with the clever pantherine. He stomped over to the drenched bird, who he pushed over, making him land in the corner between the wall and marble flooring. Then, he approached Falco, and bent down to his level.
"Hear that, Lombardi? You've been spared. Although, we'll know if you tattle. If you do…" Wolf then brandished a claw from his index finger, and tapped it against the keratin of Falco's beak. Standing up, the captain of StarWolf called for his comrades as he walked out of the door.
Leon followed closely, but gave one last departing smile to the soaked songbird, as he too left the bathroom. Panther Caroso was the only one left. Instead of leaving as Falco expected, Panther closed the distance between himself and the StarFox member in need. Gracefully, he knelt down, and gently caressed the underside of Falco's beak.
"A-Aah… W-What the…"
Panther shushed Falco, and warmly simpered.
"Remember, birdie. You owe me one."
Once finished, Panther stood up, and left the room, so that it was solely Falco left amid his thoughts. In a time like this, there was only one phrase travelling throughout the falcon's mind.
"What the heck… just happened?"
That got gruesome. A lot more interesting than I had expected at the start of the chapter. Regardless, I'd love for you to tell me your thoughts about this story so far! I'd always accept criticism! Also, in case you're interested, I've hidden a couple quotes from the original Star Fox 64 in this story too! See if you can find them all! Check you all next chapter!
-lnkOTP