Chapter V
Wolf O'Donnell wasn't somebody who typically enjoyed being told what he could and couldn't do. He was a mercenary- the kind that would get special privileges wherever he went, or cause people to suffer from things as miniscule as a death glare up to literal death. These personal freedoms turned him into someone who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted, especially if it meant getting his paycheck.
But, when he was granted a freedom that nobody else would have, one that would make him virtually unkillable, well…
Well, he still wasn't sure.
He wasn't sure of how Leon had gotten his hodge-podge of duct tape and tin foil to work in the first place, or any sort of potential unintended consequences they might've been causing; but didn't exactly care about any of that.
What he did care about, however, was that this was the first time they'd been caught. Not caught as in captured (granted, two of them were), more so just needing to switch up their tactics now. He had no doubt that Pigma and Andrew would run their mouths to try and get out of punishment, or at least not immediately, so it was only a matter of time before the Cornerians were hot on his heels again.
This time, though, he had something of a "get out of jail free" card. And he was more than happy to save the energy to move two less people around.
The lupine inhaled, taking a long drag on his cigar.
Taking a look around, his aging, assisted eyes studied the rest of Sargasso Station. The place had definitely gone downhill, seeming even more old in the tooth than he was. Some sections of the station even had to be sealed off in order to keep the atmospheric pressure stable. Regardless, it was nothing they couldn't manage, especially since they were still sitting on a stash of laundered money so fresh that it was comparable to even the finest of linen.
Wolf got up from his tall-backed chair and left the large, windowed observation deck, heading for his makeshift war room. If they were to finish repairs then they'd need to pull off just one more heist. The last one may have been a bust, but he was confident that they could brush it off as nothing more than that.
"Hey, Wolf," Leon's voice swiveled his ear.
"Found us one more place to hit, this'll be our biggest."
O'Donnell looked at the data slate the chameleon held, before cracking a toothy, menacing grin.
The boys would be back in town.
And nobody was going to tell him otherwise.
-[TW]-
"You did what to my car!?"
Fara giggled at Fox's exasperation as he looked at his mechanically bastardized child. He called in a favor to fix his car, not make it, well, whatever it was now.
"Oh c'mon, I guarantee you'll love it, just give it a try!"
The fennec pushed the vulpine toward the machine, ignoring his continued protests as he was not enjoying the (hopefully) purely visual modifications. Knowing Fara, though, these were likely more than visual.
The vulpine stopped her skidding his feet toward the car, before turning around to face her.
"Unless you tell me what the heck you just strapped to the back of my dad's ride, I'm not leaving until you make it look like it just left the factory."
Fara's eyes narrowed. Miyu, standing next to her and watching in amusement, could only guess as to what was coming.
"I did fix it, did I not?"
Fox slapped a hand over his face before dragging it down over his eyes.
"Yes… You did."
He let out a long sigh before continuing.
"Seriously, what did you do to it?"
Fara's sly grin slowly faded as she let the childish manner follow.
"Do you want the short version, or the long version?"
Fox put his hands on his hips and turned back to the motorized beast.
"Short, please."
"Well, Star Wolf is back, and right now your car is the best shot we've got at sending 'em back to hell."
If Fox wanted to get a concussion on the polished concrete floor of the test room, he would've fallen head-first out of pure avoidance of the rival mercenary group.
"You're kidding, right?"
"That brings me to the longer version. Probably shouldn't tell you since that'd violate OPSEC, but seeing how it's your set of wheels we're using I suppose you should know."
Fox just looked at her before rolling his eyes.
"Fed boys held a little sting op at a local bank since a bunch of other ones were getting hit up with no culprits, only to find Wolf and his cronies were using something to temporally displace themselves in and out with little trace."
"So you're telling me you built a time machine out of my LeDorean?"
Fara clicked a button on the keyfob, causing the underside to glow the same rich blue from earlier. Fox caught the fob as she threw it to him, running his thumb over the additional retrofitted buttons.
"Well, the way I saw it, if we were gonna build a time machine, why wouldn't we do it with some style? Also, stainless steel was the only material we could get to work, so there wasn't much of a choice to begin with."
"Might want to look behind you," the fennec added.
Fox turned back to the car, only to see his prized possession floating in the air with its gull wing door open, driver's seat still waiting, begging for him to hop in.
"Climb on in, we'll help you fire everything up."
Fara left the testing chamber and closed the thick door behind her, leaving Fox to timidly climb inside his Phoenix-custom vehicle. As he shifted his weight into the firm leather seat, he felt the car dip slightly as the miniature G-diffusers adjusted to the added load. The car sensed him fully in the driver's seat, closing the door as the vulpine gazed at the new interior.
There were a ton of devices strewn about the cockpit, most of which were routed to a series of light-up buttons along the upper exterior, others to a big metal box with giant buttons where his armrest used to be. A small keypad that looked like it was ripped off an old antique telephone was mounted next to his climate control, right below a huge segmented display, labelled from the year down to the minute.
A small light near his gauge cluster began blinking, causing Fox to look around the cabin for the correspondent.
Up next to the dome light was a button marked "comms," which he pushed.
"Fox, you read me?"
"Loud and clear, Slippy," Fox responded to the familiar voice. "My only request is that you get me home before dinner."
He heard Fara and Miyu giggle in the background. Slippy moved away from the microphone momentarily before coming back on.
"To us, you'll only be gone for just a few seconds. For you, though, well, you'll have all the time in the world."
"Did Peppy's puns rub off on you when he retired?"
"Maybe a little," the toad joked. "Anyway, we're gonna set the destination remotely from here, all you need to do in order to make the jump is floor it, then honk your horn at 77 miles per hour."
"77?" Fox asked incredulously. He was no stranger to speeding in his younger years, but now it was a different story.
"77 at least," Slippy confirmed. "The amount of material moving through is helped the faster it's going."
Fox gave the horn a quick test, hearing a quick up-and-down major melody.
"A dixie horn. Hilarious."
"That was Miyu's idea. Now push the green button by your handbrake."
As the large, concrete door opened up in the middle of the test chamber wall, Fox felt the car bump as the wheels rotated back into position, and he landed on the ground.
A new set of numbers appeared on the destination display.
Fox looked on past the now open pathway, seeing a stretch of concrete that appeared to be about half a mile in length.
"Ready when you are, Fox. Just remember if you see yourself to get out of there ASAP."
"Right, here goes," he muttered.
The vulpine followed his muscle memory, revving his engine to the perfect RPM range before letting out the clutch, and flying off the line. After 5 total shifts up to his top gear, the vulpine found his needle just about to cross the 80mph mark.
After putting his trust in Fara's team and his promise to his other half to be back with the car before dinner, Fox put his hand on the center of the wheel and gave it a firm push.
There was a bright blue flash before he disappeared.
Doodoo doot doot, doodoodoodoo doo doo doo doo-
-[TW]-
…A lone Cerinian recoiled at an ear-piercing bang, pulling her arms up and covering her face. Fichinian operators wasted no time in taking aim, but upon firing their shots were met with an emerald green orb that the Cerinian girl surrounded herself in. The shots vaporized once they pierced the shell of the Alpha's orb; the energy produced turned into sparks which seemed to intensify her anger. She shrieked as the sound waves mixed with the orb's shell, creating lightning that she scattered.
The weapons were torn from the operators' grasps as the lightning strikes shocked them and cast them aside.
An idea flashed through a bystander's head, so she darted forward and snatched Krystal's extended staff from her hands. Before Krystal could protest, the younger Cerinian heaved the staff like a spear; the ornate tip piercing Haifae's protective orb and lodging itself into the odd material. Haifae recognized this, but was too late to see Remi bolt forward and leap at the staff. She used her momentum upon grabbing it to yank down on the orb as if she were trying a downward slash with a sword, which carried Haifae with it. The orb burst and instantly vaporized when the Alpha crashed to the ground.
That only served to piss Haifae off. As she stood up and shook herself off, an eerie, ethereal laugh emanated from her skull mask; now sporting a wicked crack seam from the bottom of her left eye all the way down to the base of the left canine tooth. The air, already frigid, seemed to chill further.
"You dare to tempt fate," her creepy voice now losing its luster of elegance. Her amulet around her neck began to glow as she rose, kicking up snow and dust in her wake. "The Architect may lament your loss, dear Remilia—but a golden day will arise knowing you will no longer interfere in our plans. It will be my honor to see you erased."
At her last word, energy condensed around her, forming an interlaced star which spun rapidly. As more dust and debris swirled around this energy field, her vulpine tail stood on end and multiplied, fanning out in a nine-tailed display of dominance. Remi backed away towards Fox and Krystal just in time for the orbs of light to glow brighter and brighter before detonating.
Time seemed to slow for Fox as a deadly, bright blue shockwave burst outward just behind the alpha. Part of him wanted to panic, but another part of him noticed the shockwave thinning as it spread. It wasn't a shockwave- it was,
It was… A car?
HONK-BANG
In mere fractions of a second, a silver car sporting what looked like rocket boosters over the trunk lid appeared out of thin air with a sound as loud as thunder, travelling at such a high rate of speed that a fine, red mist painted on its hood was all that remained of Haifae as it plowed through her.
The silent tension in the air was so thick you could've… Well, you get the idea.
Moments later a loud thud was heard as the last of the alpha hit the floor. For the sake of ratings this will not be described any further.
Fox rubbed the shock out of his eyes, before spotting himself wearing his typical flight outfit, Krystal as well.
All eyes were staring at him as he put the car in reverse and did his best to get out of there.
"Sorry… Sorry… 'Scuse me… Sorry…"
The people outside the car began to awkwardly shuffle around as Fox had to do a five-point turn to leave.
The vulpine did a quick turn and spotted an open area across the building, before the display updated with a new destination.
"Only one way home, I guess."
Fox sped out of there, putting all faith in his engine to get him fast enough before he'd hit the wall.
The Dixie horn blared once again, and a thunderclap was the last heard of him as he left.
-[TW]-
...As the Arwings pushed onward, they quickly came across a long stretch of highway, as well as what seemed like a purple sports car going over 200 miles per hour.
"Guys, I see the kid. How'd he even get down there," Fox announced and asked, causing Falco to scoff.
"Don't matter, I'm gonna make him piss himself, watch," Falco sneered, before his Arwing dipped down to the ground and began tailing the car.
Fox and Krystal sighed, keeping their distance up in the sky.
Back on the ground, TJ was humming along to his music when a sharp whine pierced his ears. He was about to look behind him before an arwing passed within mere inches of him, going at least twice as fast. The shock wave was too much for the Skyline as it pushed him to the other side of the small road and onto the sand in a tailspin.
TJ let out a scream as he slammed the brakes, hoping he could stop the car before anything bad happened. Thankfully, he was able to stop his car from spinning, coming to a stop in a rut in the sand. He sat still for a few seconds, before he felt something rise up in his throat.
Bile.
The kid hobbled out of his car, losing all the food in his stomach before clambering back in. In front of TJ's dashboard, a projection of the three pilots appeared in front of his face, as well as his own. He looked like hell thanks to his puke-fest, with disheveled hair and pale skin. TJ immediately knew who did the fly-by as he saw Falco's snickering expression in the top left corner of his display.
"What's with the smilin', jackass?" he growled.
"Boy you lookin' like a druggie," the pheasant shot back.
"Enough," Fox barked through the comms, silencing the two. Fox sighed as he pinched the bridge of his muzzle.
"TJ, why are you here?" The vulpine asked with a soft tone, almost as if he was worried for the kid.
"Why do you think? I can do this man, just gimme a shot!" He exclaimed.
Falco chipped in with a high-pitched whistle as if to scoff. "Listen man, you're not cut out for this line 'a work. You could be a good mechanic though, so why don't you stick to that?" The avian asked, angering TJ.
"Oh, screw you, asshole." TJ spat, causing a scowl to grow on Falco's beak.
"What'd you say to me?!" He asked with a snarl. TJ scowled even further as he locked eyes with
the blue bird.
"Let me spell it out for ya, then. You're an A-S-S-H-O-L-E. Asshole." TJ spat.
"You want me to go down there and shove my talons up your ass?!" Falco snarled back.
"Try me, fried chicken!" TJ fired back, ready for a brawl.
Before anyone could make a move, a boom loud as thunder nearly busted everyone's eardrums. The three arwings instinctively broke into evasive maneuvers, and TJ ducked his head as close to his lap as he could get it.
Fox opened his arwing's infrared camera to try and get a lock on whatever was interrupting their conversation, spotting a bright trail of energy passing by the Skyline on the side of the road.
"Fox, is… Isn't that your car," Falco asked, puzzled.
The vulpine cocked an eyebrow.
"This is Star Fox, state your purpose!"
No response.
Now suspicious, Fox flew toward the car as his teammates followed. He piloted his craft side by side with the vehicle, trying to get a good look at who was behind the wheel.
Whoever was inside was a fox with orange fur, a white stripe up the middle, emerald green eyes…
"Wait a minute… This isn't home," the fox in the LeDorean muttered.
Before Fox could process that the person in his own car was in fact himself, the driver honked the horn of the car, and the blinding blue light made the three of them pull away. The same thunderclap from earlier ravaged their ears, before everything was completely silent.
"What…?"
"What's wrong, Falco," TJ sneered. "Couldn't keep up with something on wheels?"
-[TW]-
Fox jumped through the time-hole-thing again, this time having a heavy sinking feeling. The vulpine glanced out the window, seeing nothing but the color blue, and a wall of wood and metal in front of him.
It was… a boat…?
The ship rapidly approached his front end as the vulpine tailgated the boat, causing Fox to hit the brakes and honk the horn as his road instincts kicked in.
Before he could study the vessel further he noticed the water getting closer and closer to the bottom of his window. He gunned it on the throttle to stay afloat, noting how the car got closer to the water the slower he got.
Like an MWB driver on the Cornerian Highway System, Fox rode right up onto the boat's rudder. The words Krispy Krunch inscribed along the ship came into view.
The vulpine continued on the brink of hitting the water behind the boat, slamming the steering wheel and causing the Dixie horn to keep blaring out of his hood.
"Come on! I don't have all day!"
As Fox continued his tirade against the ship, clearly taking up his lane and wasting his time, he yanked on the steering wheel, and went for a passing maneuver.
To his dismay, the ship changed direction with him, like those soccer moms who'd cut off everyone in the fast lane and proceed to do 15 under the limit. The only difference this time was that he felt his back end skim across the water as the brakes were applied, before they managed to build up speed again.
However, this ship was no soccer mom. This was a soccer dad, and Fox's eyes proceeded to bulge out of their sockets as he watched a giant anchor fly down the side of the ship. The boat lost a massive amount of speed, before quickly reeling the weight back in and completing its brake-check.
Fox made a split-second traffic decision, pulling the wheel off to the opposite side. Normally passing on the right was a big no-no in his eyes, but now was most definitely the time for exceptions.
As the car began to slide past the massive boat, the vulpine's eyes grew as wide as dinner plates as he watched three cannons pivot towards him. He shifted into his highest gear, keeping the throttle pinned to the floor.
Three chest-thumping booms rocked his eardrums as a few black cannonballs about 5 inches in diameter flew towards his car, narrowly missing his tail end.
The todd shifted back down a gear and pushed the tachometer to the redline, but the cannons tracked his movement, aiming ahead of him to anticipate his position.
Fox began swerving in an attempt to doge the perfectly tracked cannonballs, just barely getting through as one of them slid across his roof. His ears pinned back against his head, sensitive to the sharp noise.
"My roof!"
Now with an opening, the vulpine gunned it, watching his speedometer climb back up once again. He held his hand against the horn in anticipation, before mashing the center of the wheel as soon as the needle crossed the mark.
The horn blared and the ear-splitting bang rang out, and the LeDorean's exit was marked by a blinding light and a wake in the water where it disappeared.
-[TW]-
...Kula climbed to her feet, walking towards the middle of the dark room. Flood lamps illuminated the space, although they did little to penetrate the ambient darkness. The front half of the room was shaped into a half circle. Most of the walls and floors were solid black, providing nothing but an inky darkness around them that even the full powered lamps struggled to penetrate.
A slot sat in the center of the room, close to where the half circle began, waiting for the artifact Kula held in her hand now. This was what she'd been waiting for, what all of them had been waiting for. She grasped the staff in her hand, pointed the tip at the hole, and placed it in. Then she waited. Five seconds. Ten seconds. Thirty. A minute. Two minutes. Five…
Kula frowned. Thaal-Ja should have responded by now… She removed the staff from the slot, and put it back in. Nothing happened, the room not revealing its secrets to her.
She looked at the others, all of them tense. Sable's eyes were wide. Her whole body shook, her breaths rapid and short as she watched and waited for Thaal-Ja to rise.
Kula chewed her lip, taking the staff out of the hole once more. She looked over the bronze staff again and again. What the hell was wrong with this thing?! What were they doing wrong? Had they made a mistake in their research somewhere? What the hell could it be?
Before she could continue to question why there was no response from their god, a faint, pale blue glow began to emanate from the slot. A low whine began to climb higher in pitch, making Kula's ears pin back flat against her head. The tan-yellow feline began to inch backward, still weary of what was coming from the ancient mechanism she'd been shoving a metal stick into a while ago.
Along with the others with her, the cat had now backed up roughly a car's length away from the slot, which continued to grow brighter. The high-pitched whine turned into what sounded like the roar of a lion, until a loud bang made everyone jump out of their fur.
A wedge-shaped hunk of metal covered in lights came out of the blue, throwing out bits of dust and sand as it slid sideways. Kula and the others jumped, just narrowly being hit by the one-ton machine.
The lion's roar had subsided to the purr of a kitten, before Fox turned the engine off, just barely keeping his bearings. The vulpine opened the gull-wing, feeling his weight transfer onto the black stone beneath them.
The group of felines stared at him in bewilderment.
'A fox? A fox is the messenger of Thaal-Ja? But why? He works in mysterious ways…'
Some of the nobles within the crowd were getting testy, displeased by a non-cat despoiling their most sacred of places. Sable appeared to be waving for the Retinue to take point and kill the intruder.
The crowd of cats began encircling the vulpine with angry expressions. A small handful of the robe-ridden felines shoved their way to the front of the group, getting right up at the end of his nose. Almost immediately they started hurling words at him, attempting to shun him for merely existing in their sacred area.
"Please...everyone calm down," Kula ordered with a raised hand. For all they knew, this was a part of Thaal-Ja's plan. Best to make sure that was the case first before they made a terrible error and displeased him.
Taking a deep breath, Kula approached the vulpine. "Are...are you the messenger of Thaal-Ja?"
The vulpine glanced around the room, studying the space before he hesitantly replied.
"Uh… Yeah?"
A layer of hushed whispers and murmurs blanketed the crowd.
A wave of relief washed over Kula. "Oh, it is such a blessing to see you! Please...what word do you bring from Thaal-Ja?"
The vulpine paused before he spoke.
"Your god is… Your god is already risen," he started. He'd have to think of something quick if he wanted to avoid death by feline.
The cats all looked at each other, their hushed questioning even louder this time.
"If Thaal-Ja has risen, where is he? The planet's crust should be torn asunder by now!"
The vulpine's eyes widened.
He paused for an uncomfortably long amount of time before shooting his hand up and pointing across the room.
"Over there!"
Fox quickly threw himself back into the driver's seat, yanking the door closed and locking it. He mashed the button at his side, causing the wheels to flip upward and the car to lift off the ground.
Much of the nobility were guarded and escorted by the security to cover, while a few of them scrambled toward his car. Without thinking, Fox floored the gas pedal, watching the felines dive out of the way as the LeDorean gracefully lifted above them, before dropping back down and hovering above the stone and sand.
"Oh, well that was easy-AH!"
Fox was now face to face with a snow leopard clad in a red and black body suit, staring at him through his windshield. She also wore a silver glove that looked like it could punch through the glass, as well as a look of pure determination to end his life.
As the leopard cocked her fist backward, Fox watched as her gloved hand gained a sharp, pointy blade.
Fox jerked the steering wheel to the side like he would do with a flight stick, and the leopard lost balance as he poured on the speed. She rolled over onto her side, still handing on by one hand off the edge of his A pillar.
"Come on, get off already!"
Fox's stomach flipped when he watched the blade turn back into a hand, and her limbs gripped flat on the side of his car like it was covered in super glue.
The vulpine continued flying through the near-pitch-black tunnel, watching the peculiar glowing orange lines to guide himself.
"Eat this," the vulpine grunted as he pushed a button in the center console.
Without warning, the passenger side door flung open, which seemed to work for a moment before Fox heard a loud thump from the hood of the vehicle. She landed effortlessly back on his hood, so the vulpine had to try something different.
Fox reached down and pulled a small red handle in his footwell, and the car's hood popped up.
The metal sheet flew open and retracted faster than the door had, throwing the snow leopard off of his car before she could get a grip on it.
Fox breathed a sigh of relief, and dropped his wheels back onto the ground before accelerating away. He glanced uneasily in his rearview, as the leopard landed perfectly on her feet, staring him down with a death glare.
He quickly reached the end of the tunnel, coming out of the cave into a wide, grassy oasis in the middle of the desert.
"73… 74… 75… 76… 77!"
Jima watched in anger as the car disappeared the same way it arrived, shielding her eyes as the bright blue flash marked its exit.
- The four stories used in the crossovers were used with permission. Thank you to Sheppard, Delta, Nail, and Elarix for allowing me to use your content.
- Post upload edit- shortened the first and last scenes a bit to improve readability.