Well here it is Chapter 3 hope you all enjoy.
Chapter 3: Choosing Heroes
(2 hours after homeroom)
Reaper sighed as he sat down in a chair within the student council room. The room had been commandeered by the faculty to use when they decided to choose what students went to what class. Normally Reaper, being only an assistant teacher, wouldn't be here however the teacher he was assisting was VERY lazy and had decided to delegate the task to him.
"Probably off at some bar drinking with Nightmare the prick." Reaper thought as he looked around the room he was in.
The room was spacious and had no windows along with little lighting making the light in the room dim but not enough to hamper ones sight. The only real furniture and in the room where the rows of long tables set in a circle and raised in a tier like way three rows high. Behind these tables where the teachers of each class who were currently bickering about who got into the Advance Tech class along with the principle of the school Mr. Goodly, a Golden Retriever who seemed to enjoy disagreeing with everyone about just about anything.
The constant arguing was aggravating to Reaper as the conversation had not even gotten to the Advanced Aerial Combat classes. Sharing in his misery however was General Hare, who sat in one of the higher seats in the room and watched over the proceedings with a tired gaze, also there and standing next to Reaper was Shadow Team's number four Preacher. The 19 year old stood at 5'11 with light brown hair with the beginnings of a beard and blue eyes. He had a scar running down the left cheek. He wore a piece of solid black chest armor with yellow stripes running down the arms and a yellow H on the top left of the chest. Underneath that he wore a dark grey long sleeved shirt and black cargo pants. Preacher himself looked bored as shit which Reaper couldn't blame as he was in the same boat.
"I wonder what Death's doing, bet he doesn't have to put up with this shit." Reaper thought as he tried to tune out the angry voices of the Tech teachers and the principle.
: Else Where:
(Annabelle's POV)
Annabelle Handler walked down the city streets toward the Cornerian Flight Academy she was going to apply to be a student there as she had just quit her job at the hospital and she had heard the academy had quite a good medical program for military medics (the position she wanted to now be in).
Annabelle or Anne to her friends had the image of a good medic standing at a good 5'10", she'd matured in places a little more than most girls but not overly so as to suggest promiscuity. She had orange/red fur with white chest fur and a white at the tip of her tail. She wore a tan jacket over a black long sleeve V-neck and blue jeans. Her bright blue eyes where partly hidden behind her long bangs which where a lighter shade of her fur and hair went down below her shoulders. This combined with her loving care given to her patients had given the title "The Angel" to her, much to her embarrassment. However there was one thing that Anne didn't like about herself… her black furred arms which she constantly covered up. In modern society having black arms was a sign of having a deceitful life and being cursed for a miserable life. Indeed a few times people had seen her arms and called strange and a freak. That being the reason she now always wore long sleeved shirts to cover her arms.
As she walked she noticed a rather fowl smelling raccoon walking behind her. At first she ignored him but the way he kept eyeing her figure really made her uncomfortable so she suddenly turned down a side street in order to get away from the weird raccoon.
Taking a glance behind her she saw to her horror that the dude was still following her. She quickly bolted down an ally to get away before realizing her mistake, nobody could see her now. As she desperately ran three other figures emerged from their hiding places in front of her. One of them a skunk nocked her to the ground while the others quickly restrained her and put a gage in her mouth to muffle the screams that desperately tried to be heard. The three assailants stood over her with cruel smiles on their faces as the raccoon from earlier caught up.
"Well, well look at our little catch here!" laughed the raccoon as he looked the vixen up.
One of the other three assailants a croc laughed "Yea much prettier than the other possibilities on the street today."
The fourth member of the group a possum joined the others in giddy laughter.
The raccoon bent over her as Anne backed against a wall still on the ground looking up in terror at the raccoon. The raccoon grabbed at her and sneered "Let's take a better look at our new toy." He said.
Annabelle tried to fight off the hand but instead this led to him grabbing her arm and ripping her sleeve off and revealing her black arms. A laugh came out of the raccoon upon seeing her arms "Ha look at her arms looks like we got ourselves a little freak here!" The three goons behind him started to laugh as well.
"Oh well just means nobody will miss her, we could take her back home and keep her once we're done here!" the possum stated
"Speaking of which lets hurry up before someone comes by and gets nosey." The croc commented.
The raccoon standing over Anne nodded and bent down tearing Anne's pants off reducing them to shreds and leaving her with only her underwear on. As the raccoon went to tear that off a voice suddenly spoke from down the alleyway. "Continue with that action and I will put you in so much pain you will beg for the eternal tortures of hell."
The thugs turned to the voice their attention turned away from the now weeping Anne. Anne also slowly turned to see through water eyes, who the voice belonged to hoping it was an officer. However she was met with both despair and shock as it wasn't an officer but instead a human.
Anna had seen the vids and heard the news about the group of humans at the academy. This human stood at about 5' 10" with pale skin and long snow white hair he also had a scar on the left side of his face that seemed to make him appear to be smiling although the scar had obviously been well treated as it only appeared as a white line. He wore a black leather jacket with flames going up the sleeves over a with a grey undershirt, red urban camo cargo pants, black steel toe combat boots, black leather gloves, and a pair of red sunglasses that seemed to penetrate into whoever they looked at.
"Oh someone's come to play the hero huh? Let's kill this thing boys!" The raccoon shouted as he and his companions rushed toward the human.
The human sighed then spoke up, so that Anne could hear him. "Miss, please close your eyes and don't open them until I tell you."
Anne didn't know why but she did and soon heard cries of intense pain followed by complete silence. Then Anne heard footsteps walking toward her when suddenly she felt something draped across her shoulders. She opened her eyes to find the human had taken off his leather jacket and put it around her. Anne looked around but didn't see any sign of the 4 thugs from earlier. Before she could ask what happened she let out a startled yelp as the human picked her up and carried her bridal style out of the alleyway and to a car on the street.
(In case you were wondering the car is a black 2009 Lamborghini Gallardo with red tinted windows. Hey humans in the future ride in style.)
Putting her in the passenger seat the human closed the door and got in the driver's seat and drove off. "Where do you live miss?" the human asked in a cold voice.
"1-115 Maple Ave." she stuttered as she stared at her savior. The human nodded and began to drive in the direction of her apartment. Anne sighed today had been a really hectic day and she wanted nothing more than to go home take a shower and go to bed. Her thoughts ventured to the application form she had in her pants pocket which now sat in a pile on her lap. She took it out and sighed. "Guess I can't go to the academy now today was the final day to apply." Anne sighed The human heard this and asked what the problem was.
"Well I was going to register to the Cornerian Flight Academy to be a medic to help wounded soldiers but today was the last day to apply and I already quit my job at the hospital so now I'm unemployed. Oh it's these stupid black arms of mine, I really am cursed." Annabelle cried sinking into depression as the car stopped outside her apartment.
The human walked her to her door but before she could go in he turned and addressed her. "Listen I don't know what this whole deal is about your arms being black and being cursed but I can tell you that what colors your arms are doesn't affect you destiny." The human stated.
"But-"Anne began.
"Look at my hands are they black or indicate that I am cursed in any way?" the human interrupting her and stated holding up his hands for Anne to inspect. They did look weird being without fur but not cursed or black in anyway so she shook her head no.
The human continued "These hands have caused the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of people and yet as you pointed out they do not look cursed. Making a judgment that someone is a thief or somehow inferior to them based on a physical trait is an idiotic practice, so do yourself a favor and don't listen to idiots like that say thing like that to you." He then took her black paws in his hands and held them up between the two of them before examining them for a bit. "You have an amazing gift at medicine you can heal people, your hands can bring comfort to others. Something my blood tainted hands can never do… so don't belittle them, instead treasure them and never let anyone convince you they aren't anything but wonderful. Believing anything less than that is doing you a disservice"
Anne blushed as the human held her hands a moment longer before steadily lowering them. Nobody in all of Anne's memory had said her hands where wonderful. Anne nodded and opened her apartment door before turning around to see the human had started to leave. Quickly she called out. "What's your name?"
The human paused a bit before turning to her "Paul… my friends call me Paul." He replied.
"Paul…" Anne said the name out loud listening to the sound of it before looking back at him. "My name is Annabelle Handler but you can call me Anne, thank you for everything today Paul, I hope we see each other again." She said before retreating into her apartment and closing the door. Annabelle walked through her apartment to her room before sitting on her bed and gazing at her hands before sprouting a large blush and falling back on her bed. "He called them wonderful." She said with a large genuine smile that hadn't been on her face in a long time.
(Paul's POV)
Paul gazed at the door a few more moments before heading back to his car. He hadn't intentionally meant to tell her his real name but for some reason it felt… right. He got into his car before noticing a piece of paper in the passenger seat grabbing it he saw it was Anne's enrolment papers for the academy.
Smiling to himself Paul pulled out a cellphone and dialed a number, a voice answered. "Shadow 1 here." the voice which belonged to one Reaper of Shadow team, answered.
"It's me-" Paul began "I just wanted to let you know I gust saved a hopeful student of the academy from getting raped in the city names Annabelle Handler, can you enroll her and get her in our class?"
"Sure, not an issue I'll do it before I leave, just send her application form to my PDA so I can look it over. I have to say though it's unusual for you to ask favors Death." Reaper stated, Paul remained silent then hung up driving thru the city.
The four thugs from the ally wouldn't be found until three days later stuffed into a garbage can near the ally. Their broken necks and the looks of terror on their faces the only indication of their encounter with the infamous Silent Death."
: Back at the Student Council Room:
Reaper put his comm unit away as he returned his attention back to the meeting.
"Now that we are finished with the tech class we come to the Advanced Aerial Combat classes." Mr. Goodly announced. "We have seven classes and over two-hundred applicants now instructors, what students do you request?"
"I wish to have the Star Fox team!" was the unanimous shout from all the instructors except Reaper. Bickering and shouting soon ensued as the other instructors argued their merits and how they deserved to teach the "Best pilots in the galaxy". Reaper watched the spectacle for a minute or two before he spoke up so his voice was heard over the quarreling teachers.
"Mr. Goodly, General Hare, here is the list of students I want in my class." Reaper said as he held up his PDA and a bulb on the top turned on displaying a 3D holographic image of several dossiers of different students appeared in the middle of the room.
"Score one for presentation and organization." Reaper thought as everyone in the room marveled at the image.
"The first student one my list is Bryan Sol." Reaper announced as the holographic image changed to show the picture of a green fox along with a list of information. The fox had one green eye with the other being purple, he stood at 5'6 and had a lean build. "Born and raised on Corneria, orphan since age four, never adopted, self-taught, average academic scores, and scored in the top 10% in the flight simulator." Reaper said as the other instructors where now quiet and regarded the information.
"Hmmm… impressive presentation Reaper as you came prepared well get your list out of the way first." Mr. Goodly announced. "Are there any objections to Reaper having Mr. Sol?" Hearing no objection Mr. Goodly gave a nod "Then your choice is approved Reaper, who is next?"
Reaper taped his PDA's screen and the image changed again this time the picture on the dossier showed a male grey fox with typical fur color for his species and with orange markings under his eyes. He had hazel eyes and a runner's build that was complemented by the casual Cornerian officer's uniform he wore.
"2nd Lieutenant, Lucus King of the Cornerian Military, callsign Fang. Thirty-five years old, joined the defense unit at 17, veteran of the Lylat war and Aparoid conflict. Twenty confirmed kills and one of the representatives of the Cornerian Defense Force, recently transferred from the famous Husky unit." Reaper said as he read off the information from the dossier.
"Yes I know Lieutenant King, he's a good soldier, you can have him." General Hare announced stopping any possible objections. "However in return I want you to take the representatives from Katina in return."
Reaper taped a few times on the PDA and two images appeared. The first was of a male lion with a smug grin. He had sandy brown hair with his mane being slightly darker and going to about shoulder length. He had a tribal tattoo on his left arm and had a large build that was showed off by the white wife beater and camouflage pants he wore. The second image showed a female cobra with black scales and orange eyes. She had a long tail and C-cup breasts that showed by the tan T-shirt and dessert camo paints she wore that was standard issue for Katina Defense Force pilots.
"2nd Lieutenant Edmond Laurence and Ensign Isme Shea, they have been flying together for many years. Edmond actually graduated from this academy but is returning to take the new Advanced Aerial Combat class. He is the second of three children both sisters. Isme was actually a combat medic before the outbreak of the Lylat war where the pair saw action when they flew in defense of a small military base against Androsses forces during which both shoot down three bandits each." Reaper looked at the information for a while before looking at the general.
"I have no issue with Ensign Shea but I don't want to take Lieutenant Edmond as well." Reaper stated.
"What! Why?" One of the other instructors shouted in indignation.
"Because the reason they always fly together is because Isme is an indentured servant of Edmond." Reaper announced causing the room to go silent. Everyone knew that Katina still had a decent population of cobra's that where still indentured servants because of Androsses policies that where implemented when he first took the planet and had not been removed even after the planet was freed from a combination of rebellion from the planets military and Cornerian Military strikes.
"Unfortunately you have to take both, Commander." General Hare stated.
Reaper sighed before nodding "Done." Reaper tapped again on the PDA and the third dossier on his list was displayed. The image showed a familiar female wolf was displayed. "Ashley Vulama, twenty-seven year old member of the infamous Vulama family, has been in the Cornerian Military since she was 18, applied to the academy in the hopes of being assigned a combat role. Scored in the top 20% in the academic scored and within the top 10% in the flight sim. Has put in a recommendation to stay with her career friend Fate Sapphire above average scores in both academics and sims. Mercenary father who disappeared along with his entire group 7 months ago, mother lives on Papetoon after a rather bad divorce." Reaper stated as both applicants information where displayed.
"Absolutely not!" Mr. Goodly shouted as he rose from his seat. "The Vulama family is a prestigious military family, Ensign Ashley is the sole surviving member if she where to somehow perish it would be a severe blow to moral and the media would be all over us!" Mr. Goodly announced.
Reaper gave a small smile "Are you referring to the fact that the military has been using her as a cover girl for propaganda purposes, making her somewhat of a celebrity?" Reaper asked as he tapped his PDA and an image of Ashley in a green T-shirt and pants that hugged her form and showed off her gorgeous figure, long legs, and C-cup breasts. She held a laser rifle over her shoulder and was winking at the camera while leaning against an ammo create. The image itself seemed to have been taken from a military calendar as the month was proudly displayed to the left of the picture.
Reaper noticed more than a few people in the room sit a little straighter "Pervs." Reaper thought before addressing the assembly again. "Ms. Vulama herself has promised to quit the military if she does not receive a combat role, which based on her test scores, she has every right to have. So we can either not give her a combat role then she quits and the military loses face when she goes to the press and reveals that the military doesn't give combat roles to females or we could give her the combat role by allowing her to attend my class and show that the military treats females fairly and maybe help moral when she gets a few kills under her belt with the help of the training she will receive in my class." Reaper said nonchalantly.
Around the room the other instructors glanced at each other nervously until finally General Hare broke the silence "It seems then our choice of action is clear, Commander both Ms. Vulama and Ms. Sapphire will be assigned to you class." The General finished to a few discontented grumbles from the other occupants of the room.
"Thank-you sir." Reaper responded then tapped on his PDA again to bring up the next image. Displayed now was the nervous male white wolf from Reapers homeroom. "Nickolas James Bartlet, father was a pilot for the Cornerian Defense Force and was killed in the skys over Lylat during the Lylat war, his family is below the poverty line and he actually doesn't have the credits to pay for taking the Advanced Aerial Combat class, because of this he is hoping to get a scholarship for joining a military. I ask to be allowed to wave the class fee and allow him to work it off while attending class." Reaper announced.
The occupants of the room looked confused at this seeming act of charity, however before they could ask why Preacher who had stood next to Reaper silently throughout the meeting spoke up "While the kid didn't too well in the exam portion of the entrance test his simulator scores where through the roof." Preacher explained in a board voice. The other room occupants didn't seem to have any objections so his choice was approved allowing him to bring up the next student however Tyler decided to hurry the process up and displayed all of the dossiers remaining on his list.
A set seven names appeared before the room occupants, the first one showed a female robin with all red feathers and black circles around her brown eyes. She stood at 5'8 and wore a simple outfit of a white T-shirt and black jeans. "Jasmine last name waved comes from a wealthy household from what I have been able to determine, is 18 years old, fairly shy, average piloting skill, but exceptionally smart and shows extreme potential in electronic warfare.
Tyler then proceeded to the second of the image set which displayed a certain red fox vixen with black fur around her hands. "Annabelle Handler aka 'The Angel' age 19, works at a hospital nearby. She is smart and applied to the academy only a few minutes ago, seems she wishes to become a combat medic." Reaper announced before the principle interrupted him with a question.
"Why would you want a medic and a potential electronic warfare expert in an aerial combat class?" Mr. Goodly asked.
"Well in addition to some reasons I'm not allowed to discuss here I also wanted to have an experienced doctor to watch the health of all the students to show them how to train and eat properly. I also wanted an electronic warfare expert so that the students can learn how to use that kind of advantage in combat as well as learn how to fight against someone like this." Reaper explained "It's reasons like this that I also wished to have a potential battlefield coordinator like the third applicant in this set."
The room shifted their attention to the third image which displayed a female artic wolf that stood at 5'9 with an hourglass figure and pure white fur with the exception of the end of her tail and a straight line that went from her left shoulder to her wrist, and her hair all of which were black. She had bright green eyes with one being hidden behind a black bang of hair that fell down the right side of her face. She wore a red sleeveless turtleneck underneath a grey vest along with black jeans that had two silver belts going around them and what appeared to be a music player strapped to her left arm. "Lily Valentine, age 26, just graduated from a military course for aspiring coordinators however she wants some more practice before trying her art in an actual battlefield." Reaper announced. As the other instructors didn't see the need to teach non-pilots all three where approved.
The next two individuals where well known by the occupants of the room "Lucy Hare only daughter of General Hare here. Formally a teacher of astrophysics she has above average piloting ability and somewhat of a tom-boy she has displayed an intense desire to become a pilot." Reaper began before he was interrupted by General Hare who just said "Approved".
Acknowledging the statement, Reaper proceeded to the next famous person, a vixen with brownish fur and long ears and a bushy tail. She had blue eyes that gave her a kind face that seemed to be warm and welcoming. She had an athletic figure that showed she exercised and stood at 6'0. She wore a purple shirtsleeve shirt that showed off her mid-drift and accented her bust. Over that she a white vest with pockets on both sides of the zipper which was left undone. She also wore green tight paints that brought attention to her attractive legs held up with a black belt and that that went down to a pair of silver boots that went up to just below her knee. She had a side arm strapped to her right hip in a grey holster along with a pouch that was also gray in color strapped to her back hip above the base of her tail. She also wore a pair of black fingerless gloves and a pink helmet that likely was a prototype of some kind.
(Image of Fara I'm using: www. deviantart art / Fara-Phoenix- 49221119)
"Fara Phoenix, age 27, daughter of Marco Phoenix president of Phoenix arms and heir to the company. She is an excellent pilot, often the one to test out prototype craft." Reaper began before he was interrupted by a comment from one of the other instructors.
"Companies about to go bankrupt anyway, it's a waste of time to take her in if her family will be living on the streets in a couple months." Was the outburst from an overweight pig that was one of the other Advanced Aerial Combat (AAC) classes?
Reaper shot the pig a downright murderous glare that shut the pig up and seemed to make the entire room a little colder. "I believe that since I want her in my class I will determine when someone is a lost cause." Reaper said in a voice that sounded like it could slit someone's throat by itself.
General Hare cleared his throat "Yes, well your choice is approved. Now let's all be civil and continue."
Reaper stared at the pig for a few more seconds before tearing his eyes away to the next three and final names in the list. "My final three requests are as follows: Ilia Cortez, an experienced bounty hunter with twenty-five confirmed kills, parents murdered while she was at college, and trained my mercenary that assisted in tracking down her parents killer. Next is Katt Monroe again an experienced bounty hunter, 24 kills, participated in numerous engagements in both the Lylat war and the Aparoid conflict, she has twenty-four confirmed kills, and is the elected representative of Zoness. Lastly I want Stella Night, she has seen some combat and is also an experienced computer hacker." Reaper finished as everyone regarded the last of the images.
The first of the last three images was of Ilia, she had the typical fur color associated with being a leopard and stood at 5'8. She had an even toned build with long wavy blond hair with white highlights and light green eyes.
The second image was of Katt Monroe a female cat with pink fur that stood at about 5'10 with a pateet figure. She had white hair and blue eyes. She wore a yellow tank top that showed off her bust and showed her midriff, over which she wore a red vest that was left open. She wore a pair of blue jeans held up by two black belts and a pair of black boots that ended below the knee.
The final image was of Stella Night who was a blue jay with blue feathers, a black beak, and shoulder length curly light blue hair. She stood at 5'3 with brown eyes. She wore a long-sleeved purple turtle neck that was touched into a pair of black jeans that sowed off her long legs.
Any complaints with his last choices where not voiced as the occupants of the room still remembered that glare from earlier. "As there are no complaints…approved. Thank-you Commander you are dismissed." General Hare announced, to which Tyler nodded and left the room with Preacher and a small smirk that went unnoticed. After all the occupants of the room didn't need to know that General Hare had already promised him the Star Fox squadron as well as a few others like Bill Grey, Wolf O'Donnell, and Miyu Seraph thus giving him a class of all-stars, no they didn't need to know that at all.
And it's done! Well I introduced almost everyone in this chapter and gave you a little insight into Death's character. Stay Frosty and please don't forget to review!