Krystal thought she was hallucinating.
The air had undulated, taking on a barely perceptible form, crackling with short arcs of electricity, behind Jacabo as he broke down. A demonic phantom, it thrust its scythe through Jacabo, as if he wasn't even there, and now--
"FALCO!" She watched as Fox rushed forward with his blaster, getting a few shots off at the empty air, only to be knocked onto his back mid-stride by nothing. Panic coursed through her veins like acid as she returned to herself and lunged for her staff on the sandy floor, bringing the ornate pole to life with her touch and spinning it into position.
Looking up, she saw three warpings; two loomed over Falco's prone form. And two more, positioned on the basalt, distorting the rock, and another to her far right. She took a few desperate steps towards Fox and went rigid when she noticed another hovering over the groaning pilot. It stopped whatever it was doing and moved towards her. The nightmarish outline of a tall, wraith like figure and a pair of glowing, malevolent eyes flickered briefly into sight and passed out of it just as quickly, accompanied by a slight, energetic hum. It gathered itself, as if to attack, but instead let out a fierce roar, loud enough to pain her sensitive eardrums, warm spittle flying out of its mouth and speckling her fur, sending a shudder down her spine to the tip of her tail. The aforementioned appendage puffed to three times its size in protest.
This was something worse than General Scales, for all his malevolence and lust for power; she had never come against something like these creatures, monsters that faded in and out of existence and attacked like a pack of wolves.
"Fox!"
Her panicked cry jolted Fox. He could see Krystal, her image warped by the presences between them. He felt it again, the fear, but it was a different kind of fear than that produced by the shrine. This was fear like pokers being thrust into his abdomen and memories and sparking white-hot pains of times long past.
With flattened ears and a growing, feral sneer he growled, "No!" On his knees, he violently twisted a knob on his blaster to its most powerful setting, whipped the gun high, and fired a scorching red volley at the nearest group of monsters. They shrieked and scattered, caught off guard, one arching its back in pain while another lunged at Fox with burning eyes and delivered a spin-kick to the side of his head, knocking him to the ground in a splash of sand.
Whatever reserves that held Krystal's hope began to drain like a row of broken hour-glasses; hope like talcum grains of sand washing away in the wind and the rain. Slowly, she realized that that she was backpedaling, and stopped when the blunt angles of an outcropping began to push into her back. The outlines shimmered again, and she saw that she was surrounded by a semicircle of the creatures, their footprints imbedded in the sand. Eight pairs of strange tracks.
She knew she had little time, and had little she could do with it.
Steadily, she felt less mania, and more anger. These were HER friends, her crew, HER life. There were things she wanted to do with it. The word "injustice" bubbled into her head. For them to just spring out of no-where for no reason and kill them all. She felt herself losing control, over everything.
"COME AT ME, YOU BLERY ANIMALS!" She bared her teeth in a vulpine snarl not unlike Fox and lunged forward, ears aslant, bringing her staff downward from on high on what she assumed was a head, moments before another leapt and slashed at the space she formerly occupied. There was an angry roar as the beast blocked her attack with the same blue scythe that cut down her friend, absorbing the force of her blow and simultaneously throwing it back at her, flinging the fox back against the outcropping.
She hit the rock with enough force to have the breath knocked out of her, and fell to the ground in a gasping, crumpled heap. Looking into the swimming images of attackers, she saw their orange eyes narrow as they began to hiss. The hissing turned into a low growling, and then a coughing.
It took her a moment to figure out that they were laughing at her.
Something snapped inside.
She grabbed her staff again, thrusting it end first like a rock-climbers spike deep into a small crack in the basalt behind her and using it to heave herself to her feet, then pulled it out again, planting it hard into the ground before bringing it back up into ready position.
They stopped laughing. Her attacker flicked its head and the others slinked back, a few coughing a little more of their ill-hyena laugh. Their sudden change in behavior gave Krystal some pause, until she saw the remaining pirate de-cloak and settle into some sort of alien battle position. It gave her a slight gesture with its scythe, which she could now see clearly. The weapon was artificial, with a sharp edge and graceful curve. The blue glow it gave off illuminated the fierce, insectoid nightmare that was her attacker; saurian claws and sinewy muscles that ran with calculated precision into bio-mechanical parts and a shiny, blue-black exoskeleton with a red undertone. On the chest was a red and yellow stamp, denoting who knew what. Elaborate tubing ran through the body like a parasitic worm, climbing up the thick neck and ending at the blunt head. Blue and amber light glinted off of exposed teeth like a series of miniature krysknives; the amber light came from the burning eyes.
Then it hit her like a sack of bricks. She saw what was happening, going to happen, and she saw what she was about to go up against. She had asked for it, of course, but hadn't expected for them all to back off and let her go down in some sort of honor battle! These ruthless monsters!
Her opponent however, knew how these things worked, and became impatient with the pathetic excuse for a warrior before him. With a wide roar, he dashed low and brought his scythe back for a killing blow.
And was stopped short by the revving of a high pitched whine like that of a turbine, followed moments later by a SHOOM as a white blast of energy engulfed the shocked beast in a grating of crystals. When the spots faded from Krystal's eyes, she could see it enclosed in a glossy shell of ice. The other's shrieked and leapt away in fury.
Krystal eyed the lean, insectoid figure, then slowly away from it to the new attacker.
At the other end of the cavern a robotic figure stepped smoothly out of the shadows. It was covered in shining red and gold pieces of bionic armor from head to boot, some of a finer geometric nature while others had a more bionic fit, uneven in thickness but somehow artistic. The sides of the legs were lined in green lights, as was part of the heavy chest plate and the large half-spheres on the shoulders. The right forearm boasted a large, modular canon, glowing white from the within and from even seams in the canon's structure. A deadly row of bladed spines lead up the left forearm. The head; a red helmet with a translucent green visor and filtration tubes.
Krystal couldn't see what was inside, but it looked angry anyway.
One of the phantom creatures threw itself out of the shadows and set its anger on the humanoid. Ducking and darting right, the figure brought back a metal fist and swung it into the phantom's midsection, rupturing something inside with a noise that made Krystal wince, pitching it forward onto the floor where it sputtered and hissed, finally de-cloaking. They looked worse in death.
The one encased in ice began to shudder and finally broke free with a noise like splintering glass, sagging forward in exhaustion for a moment before fading out of sight, but not before giving her a murdering look. Krystal tried to back away from where it had been last, catching the attention of the humanoid. It seemed to size her up before it said in a garbled voice, "Stay put…" She froze, both at the presence of an actual voice and the realization that there really wasn't much she could do anyway.
Suddenly, another chunk of ice coalesced out of nowhere and plunked to the ground as the humanoid brandished its canon again. There was the sound of padding feet on sand and the humanoid quickly turned left, leaping an unnatural height into the air. Aiming at the floor at the apex of its jump, the humanoid fired another icy blast and came down upon the resulting iceberg with a down kick, shattering it to smithereens. Launching from its crouched position over the shards of ice, the humanoid sprinted forward and leapt over the other frozen monster, gracefully spinning mid flight and firing a carefully aimed missile; neutralizing the creature on ice and another one Krystal hadn't noticed. How did the copper avenger see them?
Krystal's thoughts were interrupted when a garbled roar echoed throughout the cave; it struck her as different because of the inherent note of command it held.
The armored one stopped mid-step and planted, casting its gaze about the cavern, searching for any sign of movement or dangerous life. There was none, only the sound of Falco's labored breathing. Gone were the killer mirages and snarls.
Naturally, so was Jacabo.
"I can't believe it," Krystal heard the Humanoid mutter under its breath as it slowly did a more thorough check for danger. It bent down over Falco, who was shuddering slightly in a fetal position, touching the side of its visor with two fingers and, after a moment, she heard a distinct beeping sound. It did the same to Fox, finally turning to her. Krystal felt hopeful for a moment as she entertained the thought that maybe this armored thing was going to help them…then why hadn't it addressed her? She didn't move.
As the humanoid made its way over to her, bringing its arm back to its side, she thought she could hear the slight sound of servomotors working in the gleaming armor.
With blinding speed the humanoid covered the remaining distance between them and painfully grabbed Krystal by the neck, holding her up and smashing her hard against a nearby outcropping. Her vision spun for a moment and she was dazed by the pain and shock of the attack. This was too much.
"There isn't much time now, but I would like to ask you a few questions. And I'd like you to tell me the truth," the fearsome metal humanoid glanced non-chalantly at Fox and Falco, prone on the sandy cavern floor. Falco's wound was bleeding freely and he groaned. A dim light shone from the lichen in the center of the room, casting strange shadows and reflections on the humanoid's armor. "Considering you are the only one who isn't incapacitated at the moment."
Krystal shuddered in the humanoid's grasp and at its coldness. She hadn't realized how tall it was, easily seven feet.
"I-"
"Question one: Who are you?" The humanoid's grip loosened a little, allowing Krystal to breathe and speak easier, but it was still like wearing an iron shackle.
Her voice was quiet, "My name is Krystal…member of the Star Fox Mercenary Team-"
"And the Avian?"
"Falco Lombardi, second wingmen-"
"The Cornerian?"
"Fox Mcloud, leader-"
"Who were you meeting here?" The Humanoid had skipped right to the quick.
"Jacabo."
"Who is Jacabo?" The humanoid went right on with its interrogation, its voice a staccato garble.
"A friend of Falco's…"
"Why were you meeting Jacabo?"
"To get information."
"About what?"
"I don't know-" The shackle grip immediately tightened into a vice, "I DON'T KNOW! He said he had something for us, information, he said…" Krystal's voice faded out as the weight of everything that had just happened began to penetrate her bones and find connections to earlier events. "He said… he was sorry…"
The vice like grip became more gentle and she was eased to the ground, the humanoid kneeling down in front of her as she trembled some more.
"I'm sorry…" The garbled voice was softer, almost soothing, "I just had to be sure that you and your company had nothing to do with those Space Pirates, the shapes you saw earlier…"
Krystal nodded, then it came. The Shapes… "They followed us…"
"What did you say?"
"The bastards FOLLOWED US! THIS ENTIRE THING WAS A SET-UP!" Krystal rose angrily to her feet, nearly falling down again, the humanoid held her up, its voice chiding.
"You just figured that out, hm?"
Krystal and the metal Humanoid knelt over Falco, Fox having been assessed earlier. The Humanoid had said that he had a minor concussion, but would recover. If he didn't wake up soon enough then one of them would have to carry him out, which would be the Humanoid, considering that Krystal wasn't strong enough and had a broken rib, according to the Humanoid's assessment.
"Can you tell what's wrong with someone just by looking?" Krystal asked, now trusting in this six to seven foot metal goliath for some reason unbeknownst to her.
"No, I use my scanning visor. It can tell me virtually anything there is to know about whatever I'm scanning."
"Oh." Krystal turned her attention to Falco, wondering for a brief moment what the Humanoid's scanner said about her.
When she removed Falco's leather jacket and shirt she could see that there was a terrible rip in the black flesh and blue matted feathers running from the middle of Falco's abdomen to his breastbone. His breath was wheezy and ragged as his glassy eyes, surrounded by soft crimson feathers, looked questioningly from the Humanoid to Krystal, then jerked back to the Humanoid, letting out a strangled noise of panic.
"Easy now," Krystal soothed, "Help's come…"
"He's lost a significant amount of blood, he'll probably need a transfusion…and his immune system is failing rapidly. It's a wonder he's still alive…What could have affected his immune-…! No. Get back-!"
"What? What's wrong?" Krystal examined her friend in an attempt to see what the other saw.
"He's been infected- I should have seen it sooner! – by a deadly parasite known as the X-"
"WHAT! What's that? Can you do anything?" Krystal interrupted.
"Not here, not now. We'll have to seal up his wound first, as soon as possible." the Humanoid brought up its shiny canon and tapped the side, revealing a small panel with a few buttons on it, "One moment…" It tapped the buttons in swift succession, the white light inside the canon growing dimmer.
"What's wrong? What are you doing?"
"I'm lowering the power on my ice beam."
Krystal thought for a moment. "Wait a minute, ice beam? You're not going to-"
"It's our only option, and our best. The ice will protect the wound and there'll be less of a chance of infection, since the ice is pure. And an infection could kill him," the Humanoid backed up a little and aimed its canon at Falco's wound, "I've got it on the lowest setting, so it shouldn't hurt. Much."
"…much?"
"Trust me. If everything works out he'll be fine." The canon recoiled slightly as a small dim swatch of energy leapt from the barrel and onto Falco's wound, ice spreading over it instantly and sealing it shut, staunching the bleeding. Falco began to shiver.
"Don't worry, it's just a result of the cold…" They watched as the shivering advanced into convulsions.
"You said he'd be fine!" Krystal shouted as flecks of foam began to form on Falco's open beak.
"I know I know! This shouldn't be happening…!" The Humanoid's head moved fearfully up and down Falco's shuddering body, "It's the virus-" The intensity of Falco's reaction escalated, echoing the panic of his caretakers. Then suddenly the convulsions stopped and he was still, like the victim of a strangling hand that had been forced to let go.
"…is he dead..?" Krystal asked quietly.
The Humanoid finished its scan, and let out a sigh of relief, "…no. Just unconscious." They watched as Falco's chest moved slightly up and down. There wasn't much time. "We have to get out of here. Pirates have a thing for speed."
Slippy Toad switched on his Mechanic's Friend? flashlight and shone it down the dim hallway. Fox had instructed that the power on the Great Fox be set on low, so as to avoid detection, so Slippy had to go around with a flashlight. The Great Fox looked kind of creepy in the dark with all that piping and grating in renovated areas. It didn't help that Slippy had fairly poor eyesight, being a frog, so he met his task with caution.
He had to find ROB.
ROB was his creation after all, it was rightly his job to figure out what went wrong. Even though nothing should have gone wrong. The only problems ROB ever had were with old parts, and those had been replaced recently. So something must have happened. Other people may not be concerned when their AI robots weren't on the bridge keeping watch or answering messages or following them around like a dog, but this was ROB. He was always there.
Stepping onto the turbo lift, Slippy continued his search and moved on to the third deck, the lowest, where most of the main systems and generators were as well as the manual controls for the main gun. He had already finished searching the second deck, a hangar and storage space as well as living quarters. The first was the smallest, the main deck. But now he was on the third so this didn't matter much.
"The unwary toad delved deeper into the bowels of the ship…" Slippy narrated dramatically as he walked, eyes wandering. He could forgive himself. It wasn't like there were tape recorders hidden in the walls or anything. "Actually, the word bowels is really over used…how about BASEMENT! Or maybe womb, no. That's pretty disgusting." He stuck his oversized tongue out. "Now I'm just creeping myself out and talking to myself all alone down here. ROB! Where are you?"
There was a clattering of metal and a dark bulk slipped out of the shadows from Slippy's side. "Yes?"
Slippy nearly jumped out of his own skin as he turned around, flashing the beam from his Mechanic's Friend around wildly, finally settling on ROB. The leggy robot was extracting itself from in between some piping.
"ROB, what have you been doing all this time? Down here? Is everything okay? What were you doing in those pipes?" Slippy steadied his red cap to keep it from falling off his head.
"I am okay. Great Fox is okay. Now. There was some trouble with the main engine. But I fixed it," ROB replied in his monotonous, mechanical tone. The pincer hands opened and closed like clams while the rod-like arms were still at the robot's side. A shabbily painted ROB logo was emblazoned on its chest and the rectangular head had a few vertical slats for a mouth. A stripe of red paned Plexiglas marked the android's eyes near the top of its seven foot bulk.
"Really?" Slippy frowned a little, and aimed his flashlight at the mangled pipes, "I didn't notice anything…what was up?"
ROB paused before answering, then reached over and moved a pipe back into its place, "The left turbine's gear was twisted."
"Ah, I see," Slippy paled a bit, if what ROB said was true then the Great Fox should have been a plume of fire long ago, from overheating. "Then what were you doing in the pipes?"
"Maintenance." The light from Slippy's flashlight reflected off of the unlit pane of ROB's view port.
The robot was offline.
Crap.
And it was standing here talking in an inefficient and inherently un-ROB-like manner, leaving out details, telling him that it had fixed a two-ton twisted gear spoke that miraculously hadn't smashed into the other turbines and caused a chain reaction that would be similar to that of a nuclear weapon.
Slippy paused, dropped his flashlight, and ran to the turbo lift.
...To be continued...
A/N: I just thought I'd say I am ridiculously happy with the chapter. :D It was such a complete work in progress, and now I really feel that it's finished, all the pacing and the emotions, fight scenes, expressions, wording and descriptions feel right now. MUCH better, and I hope you can all tell you difference. HOWEVER, if you feel other-wise, please inform me so. I love hearing reader input. :)
Next... Ch. 6: The Second Creature