Star Fox: Digital Danger
By: Wolf E. Urameshi
Started: 2006-01-13
Finished: -
Disclaimer: All Star Fox characters and related trademarks are property of Nintendo and its creator, Shigeru Miyamoto. No infringement of the law is meant in any way. Also, all original characters and related trademarks are legal property of their intellectual owners and used with permission, when applicable.
Author's Note: Happy Late New Year to everyone! My computer broke up during my Christmas vacation, so I was not able to update. However, my cousin lent me her Dell Dimension desktop for today, so I can write a chapter of my fic. Also, I have taken to drawing now, as well, since I started sketching yesterday. I made a small sketch, so I put it up in deviantArt (the URL to it is here) so I thought I'd like to share it. Well, enough talk- let's get to story-telling! Thanks for reading.
Chapter 7: "Two Hours"
"Fox is missing?"
"Yup," Janus paced around the room very nervously, trying to regain his composure with no success, "and now we don't know if we're gonna be able to detect him soon or not."
Dimitri didn't know what to think as distant memories of him with his father and Fox flew around his head. "But, didn't he have a tracer or something?"
"He did," Janus replied sternly as he looked on at Dimitri with concerned eyes, "but we lost its signal at the limit of Sauria's airspace. I bet his kidnappers must've taken him somewhere where--"
"—um, Dad, wouldn't that be 'fox-nappers?'" Dimitri interjected, trying to make the situation as passable as possible.
Janus was overly annoyed and his mother too. "No," was the only word that left their voices, "it's not that, it's kidnapping."
"Oh. Well. That's okay... But if Fox can't be located, then who can help us find him? This won't be any easy!"
"Wow, obvious! Well, we don't even know where to start..." his dad commented as he at long last sat in a chair. His mind raced across the possible things Fox could be experiencing at that very moment: torture, pain, even death. Reason enough for him to act as quick as possible. But with absolutely no clues as to his possible whereabouts, no traces of him, or no witnesses that might have seen him before, how could they possibly find him?
"Janus, dear, can't you think of something?" Cecilia requested with a nervous tone in her voice, something that surprised Dimitri, because he had never seen her with such a tone before. Well, he had only lived for a year, so how could he have seen her like that? But that wasn't his concern for the moment: his worry lay within Fox's life.
"Dad... Can't we get someone to help us?"
Janus's rose up and his eyes shone again with hope: He finally saw Dimitri's light! "...That's it! Ceci! Get me the comm.!"
"Yes, dear, on its way!" She turned to their room hastily, leaving Dimitri confused.
"...What is going on?" He didn't know what to make of the sudden change of environment: first it was sad and melancholic, but now it was enthusiastic and cheerful. "Dad, what're you gonna do?"
"Let's say I'll call an old friend!"
"Who?"
"Heh heh, you'll see!"
"What the Hell is he talking about?"
Several minutes later, Great Fox Station, Sauria Airspace
"...And that's what we'll do. Think he can help us, Peppy?" Janus's image was projected in a hologram as Peppy stroked his mustache, sitting on a nearby chair and joined by the rest of the Star Fox team.
"Well, it's a possibility, given previous circumstances, but I don't honestly assure anything about it. He still bears a strong grudge with Fox, you know, so chances are slim at the time."
"But think about it, Peppy," Janus said in a reassuring tone, "if Fox dies, he won't have anyone to fight with. In other words, his life won't be complete without having to fight Fox. He won't like it, but if Fox is gone, how will he feel about being deprived of the guilty pleasure of assailing him? This is something I don't hope for, of course."
"You got a point there, man, but I don't like the idea of having to cooperate with... you-know-who." Falco interjected in a tone of complaint.
"I know that! But we can't take any chances. If General Pepper or any of the military systems of other planets knew that Fox was missing, the inner political organization of the Lylat System would go into a panic, and we don't want that. Now do we?" The image commented, granting sense to the conversation. Fox's disappearance would surely cause an emergency of immense proportions. Terrorists, knowing his swift sense of justice would be gone, could start an attack on the system at any time, and it would be catastrophic.
Suddenly, a smaller image of Dimitri popped up in the hologram. "Dad, who're you talking about—H-hey! What're you--"
"It's my moment, not yours!" Janus pushed him away angrily and the image vanished. "Hem hem... Excuse him. Now, where was I? Oh yeah, that's what I'll do, 'cause we have no choice."
"Well, it's our only option. It's up to you now. We know you can do it!" Krystal encouraged as he nodded and the image shook off.
"Do you think he'll have a chance?" Slippy inquired to Peppy as he sighed in nervousness.
"The only thing we can do at the moment is to trust in him and see if we can get help in finding him. We need some sort of contacts; the team itself isn't enough. WQe need connections- and only Janus can get them."
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Later, back at the living room, the Scales family was finishing up giving some proper touches to the comm. "Well, here we go sweet-cake. Frequency?"
"Check, dear."
"No interferences?"
"Check, dear."
"Range?"
"Check, dear."
"Sense of good luck?"
"Check, dad."
"Alright, here we go..."Janus patched the line through as it made some sort of whirring sound. Cecilia and Dimitri looked on as they witnessed him attempting to make contact with someone whose identity they had not seen yet. "This is Janus, can you hear me?"
A familiar voice came through the line, clearly annoyed. "This is Wolf O'Donnell of the Star Wolf team. What do you want?"
Cecilia gasped: She knew he wanted help, but she never saw this! "Well, is that a way to say hello?"
"Well, just to make it clear, I'm not on anyone's side anymore, now we work as freelance mercenaries. What's your business?"
"Let's say we want to hire you."
"Depends. What's the situation?"
"Well, your favorite person in this world has disappeared without a trace, and we figured that since you're the only ones in the system with underground contacts, we thought you'd like to undertake the job. And before you refuse I'll make sure you get paid handsomely."
"..." Silence was all that was heard in the line. "I knew the pup wouldn't make the cut."
"What do you mean? Did you know?"
"Not really, we heard, but we ignored the rumor because it came from an unreliable source. But now that you've said it... Interesting mission, but I'm afraid I'll have to charge a high amount. In cash and paid A.S.A.P." Wolf's tone was growing steadily impatient.
"Wha—A.S.A.P? Have you gone insane?" Janus asked him madly, obviously shaken by Wolf's demand.
"Sorry guy, but that's business. Take it or leave it. In fact, I'll go soft on you just because you haven't interfered with our plans. I'll give you two hours to think about it, but be quick about it; I believe you know that my impatience is famous in the underground."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, I'll contact you by then."
"Have it your way then, but remember, two hours!" The sound was off and static was heard. However, Janus's surprise was too much-he didn't expect things to go this well However, his clock was ticking: Two hours would make a difference. And he had to act. Now.
"Who's that, Dad?" Dimitri's curiosity had picked up on the whole situation.
"He's an old friend of mine, although you might say we engage often in 'crossfire' if you know what I mean."
"...Oh. I get it."
Janus turned to the normal comm. and called Peppy. His image appeared on the Great Fox again. "Wolf says he's willing to take it but he's demanding a large sum of money and paid now. He's giving me two hours to accept his conditions or not. What should we do?"
"Tsk, typical, just what we needed. Budget's very tight these days, who does he think we are, politicians?" Falco complained as Slippy nodded in agreement.
"Think we should get help from General Pepper?" Peppy asked Janus as he shook his head slowly.
"I doubt it, it's just like I said before. It could cause a panic, I don't want that."
"But if we don't tell the General, who will help us?" Krystal asked, striking sense into everyone's heads.
"Yeah, we have no choice. We'll have to get him to help. I'll call him. You guys wait for the moment. I'll let you in." His image left as Janus got Pepper's frequency and called in Corneria. "My only hope is this works..."
"Yes, let's, it's our only option. We're with you, Dad..." Dimitri's voice chirped silently as Janus nodded and patched the frequency.
"This is Corneria HQ's radio line. Identify yourself!" A static, female voice requested as Janus slowly replied.
"This is Dr. Janus Scales from Sauria airspace. I request a radio conference with General Pepper. I have a small matter to discuss with him."
"Yes, sir, audience granted. Please wait while we connect you to him." Some sound was heard before General Pepper's voice came on.
"This is General Pepper, good to see you alive and well!"
"Yes, sir, I'm glad too, although I wish it was in better circumstances..."
"Why, what is the matter?"
"Well..." Janus then started to explain to Pepper the story: how Fox had gone missing, their efforts to find him, their option to call Star Wolf for help, his request for money, and their concern about the disappearances' effect on the insider political system of Corneria. "...And that's what's happened. We didn't want to tell you because we didn't want to raise a panic." He looked on at the nearby clock: One hour. It had taken him a shorter time than he thought.
"Well, why didn't you say so? We could've kept quiet!"
"We didn't want to run the risk. So, it's your word now, sir. What do we do?"
"Alright, this is what we'll do. You go tell Wolf that the Cornerian Government needs some time to gather the money, but that it will be assured. In the meantime, I will dispatch one of our finest agents to work undercover. That way, we'll have some information about him for sure. For the moment, we will have to wait for some time. However, rest assured we will help as well."
"Thank you, sir, we are grateful. We will update you whenever we have any news concerning Fox." He turned off the frequency and looked at his wife and offspring. "We can find him almost anytime now!"
"That's great, we did it!" Cecilia said as she ran and hugged him.
"Yeah, let's talk to the other guy now!" Dimitri asked as Janus put on the line again.
"Wolf?"
"Took you long enough. What's your decision?"
"Well, this is what I have. For the moment we don't have the money, but we'll gather it in a short time. If you want the money I'm afraid you'll have to wait. What do you say?"
Wolf sighed with annoyance at the unexpected request. "Sigh... Alright, you got me. We'll do it. I must be sick or something if I'm being this soft on you, especially with despicable pup's life at stake. You caught me in a good mood today and in a bit of a financial problem, so yeah, we'll take it."
"Alright then, we're counting on you, and remember: you double-cross, no money for you."
"Who said anything about us betraying you fools when we're in a tight spot? Sigh, why did I take this job anyway? Well, what's done is done, can't go back now." Janus turned off the comm. and looked on at Dimitri and Cecilia with a nasty grin. But behind that grin, however, a mysterious thought crossed his mind: Who was the undercover agent?
But that wasn't his concern now. "Get me the guys and tell them it worked! We can find him anytime now!"
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Quite a shock, isn't it? Guess who the secret agent is! See you next chapter!