Kew
"Hold together baby."
Those three words had dominated Wolf's thoughts since he had fled the dogfight against Star Fox. And they weren't just directed at the Wolfen, but also at the wounded dingo seated behind him.
Aside from grunts of pain, Carmen hadn't said a word since they had escaped. Wolf had also heard the sounds of a belt being undone, likely to serve as a makeshift tourniquet.
"I deserve the cold shoulder for getting her hurt. I deserve a lot of things."
Seeing cliffs in the distance, Wolf continued to will his ship to stay airborne. It seemed his prayers were answered, for he was soon able to activate the landing sequence and set them down on the overlook.
Opening his cockpit, Wolf hopped out and then climbed up near the back. As he had guessed earlier, Carmen had double wrapped her belt above the wound in her leg.
"I'm gonna help you out of there." Wolf said in a calm, almost neutral tone. Just as his uncle had taught him.
If looks could kill, than the glare Carmen shot at Wolf would have dropped him dead. As it was, the dingo reluctantly held out her hand and let Wolf help her out of the cockpit.
Taking care not to put pressure on her injured leg, Wolf helped Carmen over to a rock. After sitting her down, the lupine went back to his Wolfen and retrieved a first aid kit.
After fishing out a pair of tweezers, Wolf met Carmen's gaze and remarked "You're probably going to want to bite down on something."
The dingo responded by biting down onto her jacket sleeve while Wolf took hold of the piece of shrapnel and began tugging on it.
After a bit of effort from the lupine and lots of groans of pain from Carmen, the piece of metal was extracted from her thigh. After tossing it aside, Wolf ran a portable scanner over the wound to see if any pieces had broken off inside of her.
When nothing turned up, the lupine set about cleaning the wound before spraying medifoam on it and wrapping a bandage around it.
Wolf heard Carmen stand up as he was taking the kit back to the ship. He could also feel her brown eyes burning a hole into his back.
"Might as well face the music." he thought as he put the kit back and closed the canopy.
Turning around and walking back towards the dingo, Wolf said "Look, you've got every right to be mad at me, but…"
"Mad?!" Carmen interrupted, "Try Furious!"
"Listen.."
"No, you listen Wolf! You almost blew the whole damn mission and came within a hair's breadth of killing one of my old friends. And for what? A petty vendetta? I…."
Wolf snarled as he felt some of his anger start to resurface.
"You know, you're not the only one who had everything taken away by him!" he screamed, spittle flying from his mouth.
Wolf stormed away before Carmen could respond. At first, the dingo glared at his back, but her expression softened as she thought about what he had said.
Carmen remembered a media studies course she'd taken in high school. How her teacher had used one Colonel Kalman Koates of the Katinese Planetary Guard as an example of media bias.
The armadillo had been hailed as a hero on his homeworld for putting an end to their bandit problem. On the other hand, the other planets had condemned him as a bloodthirsty war criminal.
That knowledge, combined with the fact that Wolf had tried and failed to apprehend the Marshal in the mines, gave Carmen pause. Letting out a sigh, she limped after Wolf, hoping that she could smooth things over.
As she got closer, Carmen could see Wolf looking out at the ocean, Thayern's reflection looking like a hundred shining lights. The lupine was hunched over and his shoulders were heaving up and down. Carmen soon heard the sounds of sniffles and sobs and stopped in her tracks.
"Wolf." she cautiously called out.
The lupine's ears twitched, but he didn't turn around.
"It was Koates. Wasn't it?"
After another sniffle, Wolf responded "Yeah. It was him."
After casting her eyes downwards and letting out a sigh, Carmen limped closer and cautiously set her hand on Wolf's shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Wolf. I really am."
To Carmen's surprise, Wolf reached up and took hold of her hand. For a moment, they just stood there.
"That's not all of it." Wolf finally spoke.
Curious, Carmen inquired "What else is there?"
The lupine was silent for a moment. Then he let go of Carmen's hand and shrugged out of her grip.
"It's nothing. Forget I said that."
Tilting her head, Carmen walked up beside Wolf.
"You're not getting rid of me that easy."
After wiping away some tears, Wolf turned and locked eyes with the dingo.
"Alright."
He took a breath, unsure of what he should say.
"I don't know if this whole situation has driven me totally bonkers, or if it's just a good old fashioned case of male hormones, but…"
Wolf swallowed and took the plunge.
"I care about you."
Upon hearing that, Carmen's eyes widened and her mouth opened slightly.
"I'm in this deep."
"I can't explain it, but I feel I can let my guard down around you, in a way I can't with anyone else."
The lupine glanced out towards the sea and then back at Carmen.
"And I'm dreading the end of this job, win, lose, or draw. Cause I know that we'll probably go our separate ways and never see each other again."
He let out a sigh and shrugged.
"Well, there it is."
For her part, Carmen put her hands on her hips and gazed out at the sea, shaking her head.
"Damn." Wolf mused while trying to keep his face neutral "She's trying to let me down easy."
His assumption made what the dingo said next all the more surprising.
"I'm in the same boat."
Wolf felt his heart skip a beat as she looked back at him.
"When I hired you to break into the warehouse, the plan was that you would do the job, I'd pay you, and that would be the end of it. Of course, the Remnant had better security than I anticipated, so I had to improvise."
Carmen rubbed between her eyes.
"As much as it astounds me, I've gotten to know you three pretty well. Now I admit, the jury's still out on Leon, and I feel like I'm going to end up decking Panther sooner or later."
A smile creased her muzzle.
"As for you, I used to think the same thing as everyone else in Lylat; That you were just a hired thug. But after what happened with the Aparoids, I see what you really are."
"What's that?" Wolf asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You're a hero, even if you don't try to be one. And I admire that."
Now it was her turn to shrug.
"I guess what I'm trying to say is, I care for you too."
For a moment, both of them stood there, as if frozen in time. Then Wolf walked up to Carmen and put his arms around her, Carmen returning the embrace.
They leaned in and shared a kiss. For what seemed like forever, all that seemed to matter to the two wild dogs was this moment. Their lips locked and tongues playing across each other. The ocean breeze blowing through their fur. Thayern shining down on them.
Neither of them wanted it to end, but there were more pressing things, namely making repairs to Wolf's ship. Breaking the kiss, Wolf touched his forehead against Carmen's.
"Let's get her fixed."
It took a bit of rewiring and some jury rigging, but they managed to get the starboard engine working again, albeit, at the cost of reduced shielding. Wolf figured that it was a fair trade off and said as much to Carmen.
"What good are heavy shields if you can't run or fight?"
"Not much, I guess."
From there, they'd taken off and flown for a bit before stashing the Wolfen outside the city limits of Torzan.
As they walked back to the safehouse, Wolf couldn't help but put his arm around Carmen. She responded by leaning her head on his shoulder.
Finally arriving and going inside, they kissed again after locking the door. When they finally broke, Wolf nodded towards the stairs. Carmen shook her head and nodded towards her ground floor bedroom.
After they kissed yet again, Wolf followed the dingo to her room.
It seemed their night had just begun.
Elsewhere
"Hey Fox. I think I've got those two creeps on scanners. Looks like they've landed."
The orange furred vulpine glanced at his HUD and saw that there were indeed two landed Wolfens on the shoreline.
"I sense an ambush."
"Me too." replied the avian.
"How do you wanna play this?"
A corner of Fox's mouth turned up in a grin.
"Spring the trap of course."
The two of them landed their Arwings on the rocky shore and hopped out with their blasters drawn. After flipping on their built-in flashlights, they headed into the tree line.
Not two minutes later, a speedboat pulled up to the shore and dropped anchor. The mole known as King and the alligator known as Powell disembarked, both carrying sniper rifles.
"McCloud is mine." King remarked.
Narrowing his eyes, Powell asked "How do you figure that?"
"Do I have to pull rank on you?"
The two Venomian operatives stared each other down before Powell broke the silence.
"Fine. But I call dibs on O'Donnell."
"Fair enough."
They set off after the mercenaries.
…
Fox and Falco moved through the brush, the sounds of twigs and leaves crunching under their feet making them uneasy. As their flashlight beams swept across the forest, Falco suddenly felt something strike him in the chest and knock him on his back.
Fox quickly turned towards the commotion and spotted a distortion.
"Hands up, Leon."
There was the whir of a camouflage generator being deactivated and Fox was soon looking upon the Torturer of Lylat.
"Well, orange boy." the lizard said with a wicked grin. "Looks like you've got me."
The vulpine was about to ask where Panther was when Falco shouted "Fox, look behind you!"
The Star Fox quickly ducked and turned, catching sight of Panther taking aim at him. Seeing Leon go for his blaster, Falco did a sweep kick and knocked the reptile to the ground.
Fox meanwhile, took aim and fired at Panther. The stun bolt only managed to knock the blaster from the jungle cat's hand.
Snarling, Panther ran towards Fox before the vulpine could line up another shot and unsheathed his claws. Fox tried backing away, only to get scratched on the wrist and drop his blaster.
Back with Leon and Falco, the chameleon had taken out a combat knife.
"Time to die, birdie!" Leon cackled as he slashed at the pheasant.
Falco jumped back from a swipe that would have cut his chest. As Leon came at him with an overhead slash, the avian reached up and grabbed the lizard's wrist, twisting it to make him drop the weapon.
Though he succeeded, Leon dove towards the ground and tossed Falco behind him. The avian then found himself being grabbed and a blaster was pressed to his temple.
Fox landed a few good punches on Panther, knocking the wildcat into a tree trunk. The vulpine then drew a compact blaster from under his vest and took aim.
"Pull that trigger, McCloud, and your friend dies!"
Fox turned in the direction of Leon's voice and saw that he had Falco at gunpoint.
Narrowing his eyes, the vulpine snarled "You do that, Leon, and I'll kill Panther."
Turning his gaze back on the jungle cat, Fox said "Alright boys, start talking. What the hell are you up to?"
Keeping his hands up in a placating gesture, Panther explained "Well, as you probably already know, we've run afoul of the Remnant. You're not gonna believe this, but Marshal Koates is leading them."
Fox scoffed at that explanation.
"You're right, I don't believe it."
"We didn't either, but it's true." Leon put in, to which Fox simply shook his head.
"Marshal Koates was killed in an air strike ten years ago."
He glared back at Panther.
"I'm gonna give you one more chance. The next words out of your mouths had better be the truth."
A tense silence fell over the quartet. A silence that was broken by Fox's wristcom crackling to life.
"Fox! Stop everything you're doing! I've got something to tell you!"
Picking up on the urgency in her voice, Fox looked between Panther and Leon before bringing up his wristcom and answering.
"Krystal, what's going on?"
"Koates is alive, Fox! There was a Venomian agent waiting to kill me at Vekman's penthouse."
"Not to mention we spoke with him on the comms. We weren't able to get a trace though." Peppy's voice put in.
Fox was absolutely dumbfounded by this revelation. Reluctantly, he pointed his blaster away from Panther and saw Leon do the same and release Falco.
As the group set about picking up their fallen weapons, and in Fox's case, patching up the scratches on his wrist, Falco ended up asking "Just what the hell have you boys gotten yourselves into now?"
"It's a long story, Lombardi." Panther replied.
"But the short version is, Koates wants to put a friendly government in power on this planet. And he's mining materials to build another Gorgan."
"Son of a bitch." Fox remarked as he finished applying a bandage.
The vulpine was about to say more when he heard the sounds of branches being trampled underfoot. Leon must have heard it too, because both him and Fox screamed "Down."
The four of them went prone, and not a moment too soon, for two laser bolts cracked into the trees.
Right where Fox and Falco had been standing just moments before.
"Welcome to our world." Leon snarked.
Ignoring him, Fox ordered "There's two snipers. Leon, with me. Falco, go with Panther."
"Fox…"
"No time for arguing. Now let's move out."
With that, the four mercenaries began crawling through the brush towards where the shots had come from.
Fox and Leon soon came upon a grassy knoll and used it for cover. Up in the trees, they could see an alligator scanning around with a sniper rifle.
"Listen Foxy, you draw his fire. I'll get him."
Seeing the lizard reach towards his camouflage generator, Fox whispered "Suppose he has a thermal scope?"
Leon shrugged.
"No risk, no reward."
After the lizard disappeared, Fox waited for a bit before firing at the alligator. As expected, the Venomian fired back, the shots slamming into his cover. The vulpine ducked down lower to make himself a smaller target.
Hearing a yelp of surprise and a thud on the forest floor, Fox cautiously stood from cover and saw that Leon was now standing over the alligator with his blaster aimed straight at his head.
Walking over and joining Leon, Fox glared down at the reptile.
"Where's your boss?" he asked in a low tone, "Where's Marshal Koates?"
The alligator shook his head.
"Don't know. Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you."
"Well you'd better come up with something." Leon hissed, "Or else."
To their surprise, the alligator smiled up at them.
"Bye bye!" he exclaimed, and then bit down.
Quickly realizing what he was doing, Fox and Leon moved to stop him, but it was too late. Foam bubbled from the reptile's mouth as the cyanide took effect.
Letting out an angered growl, Leon lifted his blaster and put several shots into the corpse, an action that surprised Fox.
"You know he was already dead, right?"
"Cyanide doesn't always work." Leon replied with a shake of his head, "Trust me, I know."
Falco and Panther, meanwhile, had engaged the other sniper, a mole. The two poured concentrated blaster fire on his position and managed to damage his rifle. Tossing it aside, the Venomian drew his machine pistol and set it to rapid fire.
After being forced into cover, Falco and Panther heard their target fleeing the other way and gave chase. The three soon broke the bushes and came upon a ravine.
"Okay, buddy." Falco warned as he aimed his blaster, "Drop the weapon and get your hands up."
Unknown to them, King grinned wickedly.
"Long live the empire!" he shouted and whipped around.
Falco was faster, his shot hitting the mole directly in the chest and sending him tumbling back into the ravine. Both him and Panther looked over the edge and saw the Venomian at the bottom, neck twisted at an odd angle.
Even so, Panther aimed his blaster and put a laser into the mole's head, which earned him a confused look from Falco.
"Better safe than sorry." explained the jungle cat.
After regrouping, the quartet went back to the beach, soon spotting the speedboat that the two Venomians had arrived in. Falco climbed aboard and began rummaging through the craft while Fox spoke with Leon and Panther.
"So, how does Carmen fit into all this?" the vulpine asked.
"She hired us to break into and destroy a warehouse, but it went south." Panther explained.
"It was also under false pretences." Leon grumbled.
"That's true, but she also got us out of that mess."
Raising an eyebrow, Fox remarked "That still doesn't explain why."
Leon and Panther shared a glance, as if they were debating on telling Fox what he wanted to know.
Finally, Panther said "She's part of a rogue operation. Seems like somebody in Intelligence is going behind Pepper's back."
The jungle cat's statement made Fox think back to his conversation with Art. Before, the vulpine figured that his father's old friend simply didn't want to see his goddaughter in jail.
But now that he knew that an operation was taking place without the authorization or knowledge of the Cornerian government, Fox began to feel a little suspicious.
His thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of Arwing engines. Looking up, the vulpine saw the rest of his team approaching.
One by one, the Arwings landed on the beach. After the dust had settled, the pilots dismounted. Happy to see Krystal safe and sound, Fox walked up and pulled her into a hug.
"You were right all along. He's alive."
"Looks to be that way, unfortunately."
After they parted, Fox asked "Did you guys contact the CDF?"
Shaking her head, Fara stated "We tried, but the Venomians are jamming our interplanetary communications."
"Damn."
"I'll say." Falco put in.
The avian was holding a data pad and wore an angered expression. The others quickly found out why when he pressed a button on the side and displayed an image of Fox running through the streets of Torzan.
"Motherfuckers." Miyu growled, giving voice to everyone's thoughts. "They've been watching us this whole time."
"Indeed." Krystal said before glancing at Panther and Leon.
Fox followed her gaze.
"We need to find Wolf and Carmen. I don't suppose you two know where they are."
"She has a safehouse in Torzan. In all likelihood, that's where they are." Krystal said, having scanned the minds of the Star Wolf members.
"Well, let's go find them."
"First things first." Peppy said from behind Fox, "I need to talk to you. Alone."
Raising an eyebrow, Fox replied "Uh, okay."
As the two of them walked away, the rest of the Star Fox team couldn't help, but be confused.
"What's going on?" asked Fay.
Once she was sure they were out of earshot, Krystal replied "It's about James."
Fox and Peppy walked for some time before the hare finally stopped. Meeting his gaze, Fox asked "Pep, what's going on?"
The leporine let out a pained sigh and removed his glasses.
"Fox. When I told you about what happened to your dad, I… Well, I didn't tell you the whole truth."
Fox's eyes widened.
"Peppy?"
Peppy swallowed as he mustered up his courage.
"He was dying after Andross got through with him, but Andross didn't kill your dad. Koates did."
Even though it had been thirteen years since that horrible day, the news still hit Fox like a ton of bricks. Tears gathered in the vulpine's green eyes and a lump formed in his throat.
Finally finding his voice again, Fox glared at Peppy.
"Why are you only telling me this now?"
The vulpine's angered tone caused Peppy to take a step back.
"Fox, listen, you were so distraught when I gave you the news that I couldn't bring myself to cause you more pain. Besides, Andross was the bigger fish."
Narrowing his eyes, Fox snarled "Well thanks for that!"
He then turned around and cast his gaze out at the ocean, hands balled into fists.
Putting his glasses back on, Peppy took a breath, remembering how he had faced similar situations to this when he had been raising Fox.
"I've gotta get through to him."
Composing himself, Peppy said "Fox, do you remember what happened on Macbeth after we left?"
There was a brief silence before the vulpine replied "Yeah."
The leporine closed his eyes as the memory came back to him.
After Star Fox had taken out Venom's weapons factory, the Macbethian resistance had incited an uprising across the planet. The Venomian occupiers hadn't taken very kindly to it.
Under the direction of Marshal Koates, General Hightower, and Admiral Payne, the Imperial Army and Navy had reacted with a vengeance, and they hadn't limited themselves to resistance fighters.
"Can you honestly say that you wouldn't have turned the ship around if you knew what Koates had done?"
At first, Fox didn't reply. But soon, he unclenched his fists and his shoulders slumped.
"No. I can't."
The vulpine turned back around and faced Peppy.
"Look Fox, for what it's worth, I'm sorry that I didn't tell you this earlier. I just hope that you can forgive me."
Fox looked downwards and then back up at his old friend.
"After all we've been through together, Peppy, I could forgive you anything."
The vulpine then walked up and pulled the hare into a hug. After they broke, Fox said "C'mon, let's go avenge Dad."
As they returned to the others, Fox quickly took note of the sympathetic looks they were giving him. It didn't take him long to figure out what was going on as Krystal came forward and gave him a hug.
"We'll make him pay. I promise."
Once they parted, Fox glanced around the group.
"Let's find Wolf and Carmen."
Castillo Manor
Marshal Koates leaned on a banister and watched as his men prepared defenses around the mansion. He had changed out of his civilian clothes and back into his uniform and cap. His men had done much the same, having dropped the pretence of being Janos Szalasi's bodyguards.
The armadillo's attention was grabbed by the approach of a grizzly bear in a blue business suit.
"Ah, welcome, Mr. Tolstan."
"Glad to be here, Marshal. Mr. Vekman sends his regards."
"Indeed." Koates replied before turning to a bearded dragon.
"Sergeant Purlinn, this man is assigned to your platoon."
"As you wish, sir." the reptile replied before turning to Tolstan.
"Let's get you a weapon and some body armour."
After they left, Valen approached the Marshal.
"Sir, Agents King and Powell haven't checked in."
Raising an eyebrow, Koates said "Than we must assume the worst."
He typed in a command on his wristcom ordering Varner and Rossington to return to the manor.
"Captain, something tells me that the girl has gotten in contact with the rest of her team. You had best get ready."
"As you wish, sir." the hyena replied before sketching a salute and turning away.
Valen walked up the hallway a bit before ducking into a room. Laying atop a coffee table was a gym bag. The wild dog opened it up and took out a sheathed katana.
As he unsheathed the blade and gazed at it, Valen couldn't help but muse "The sword that will slay the telepath."
Thayern
Upon their arrival on Kew's moon, Algy and Rena had changed out of their wet clothes into black flight jackets and flight suits. Blue for Algy and green for Rena.
At the moment, the lemur and the coywolf were following Commander Vorokin, a silverback gorilla, towards a hanger in the Venomian moon base.
As the doors slid apart, Algy and Rena's jaws practically hit the floor. For within the hanger was a pair of Invader IVs, one painted blue and the other green.
The two Macbethians were almost like children who had gotten new toys, something that was not lost on Commander Vorokin.
"I think it would be wise to get used to your new ships. You may have to use them sooner rather than later."
Collecting themselves, Algy and Rena replied "Yes sir." and walked up to the fighters.
After hopping into the cockpits and performing their preflight checks, Algy put on a headset.
"Comm check."
"I read you, Algy." Rena replied before a smile crept onto her muzzle.
"Looks like the Green Devil and the Blue Baron are back in action."
"Oh, hell yeah." the lemur agreed as he started his engines and prepared for takeoff.