A/N: I will gladly take a snow day from classes in the middle of the week. Right now, it's way below sub-zero temps, even without the god-awful wind chills and excessive snow. Granted, it's not the New England strip that has what, 6 feet? Probably more? You guys are troopers, lemme tell ya. If you guys on the east coast are reading this right now, stay safe! I don't live over there so I don't get the first-hand experience, but from what I've seen it's downright brutal over there. Again, stay safe you guys!
Anyway, I've kept you guys in suspense for long enough. Enjoy the next chapter, and please, the more feedback the better. I got SO many reviews on the last chapter, and that's what I love to see. I love all the feedback so far, and I'd love to see that positive trend continue. And yes, I've realized I've beaten the shit out of the dead horse, so I'll just stop right now and get on with the story. ;)
You guys have a good one, and I'll see ya next time!
Downtown Chicago, Illinois
"Nate… Nate look," Taylor whispered, pointing at a large warship a few blocks down. The ship was massive, and looked as though it had four large stabilizing wings; two on each side. What looked to be the main bridge was jutting out of the hull and above two large cannons. They inched closer in silence, building by building until they came within two city blocks of the silver warship.
Nathan hissed quietly as he saw dozens of anthro soldiers with ears sticking straight up and tails wagging slightly, swarming the area around the ship. "Tay… We need to get in there."
"Are you insane?" Taylor questioned. "You're just asking for us to get fried."
"No, seriously. We can probably sabotage their ship. Maybe get them out of our asses."
"But, dude, there's so many of those damn furry soldiers everywhere. We can't sneak in with them around cause they'll spot us right away."
Nathan nodded slowly, then gestured for her to follow. They crept around a building and noticed two tails facing towards them. Nathan pointed at the left one, and then nudged Taylor's shoulder, handing her his silenced 1911. Taylor nodded in acknowledgement, and then the duo silently crept up behind the two soldiers.
Nathan shot out and grabbed the canine's neck with one arm, and clamped down on his muzzle with the other. The other soldier recoiled at the sudden sight, but Taylor expertly put a bullet right between his eyes with the silenced handgun, dropping him to the ground before he could signal help. Nathan's target growled and struggled as best as he could, but could not muster enough strength to fight the human. His jerky movements to break free became weaker and less numerous, and pretty soon his movements stopped all together. Nathan's arm held on for a bit longer after the canine had ceased moving, then silently set his head on the cement.
"Good shit…" Nathan chuckled silently, then gestured to the corpses. "Put on their uniforms. That's our best bet of getting aboard that ship."
Taylor started to unzip the soldier's heavy vest, but stopped halfway. "Uh, Nate? News flash; we don't have tails. They'll spot us regardless of the gear."
"Damn, you're right…" Nathan grumbled, then leaned up against the narrow alleyway. He smirked and kicked the unmoving tail, but Taylor cut him off before he could even explain.
"Hell no, I ain't cutting off his tail. That's disgusting and cruel," she whined, almost gagging.
"How else are we gonna disguise ourselves? It's not like it's humans against humans; it's humans against weird anthro furry animal soldiers. We can't really blend in easily."
"Well, hold on," Taylor started, then removed the rest of the soldier's uniform. The clothing was only a few sizes larger, but the good thing was the longer jacket underneath the main vest covered up the hole in the pants. She smiled and gestured to the other canine.
"The big coat underneath covers up the tail hole. We'll be fine."
"We're fine unless we get ears and a damn muzzle, Tay," Nathan retorted.
"Wait, Nate, the jackets have hoods. We can throw them up over our heads to hide what we don't have. As for the muzzle, just rip off part of his undershirt and stuff it under the scarf. It may not be perfect, but it just might work."
"I just hope he doesn't smell like wet dog," Nathan smirked, then dressed himself in the soldier's attire. Just like the other veteran, the uniform was large on him, which allowed the hole in the pants to be concealed. Nathan drew his pocketknife, cut out a large piece of the canine's tank top, and stuck it into the partial mask that was part of the soldier's uniform. Luckily for him, the shirt didn't smell like he thought it did, and the shirt improvised for a muzzle surprisingly well.
"We look ridiculous," Taylor complained, adjusting the shirt under her scarf.
"Yeah, but you look like one of them. Take their guns, and follow me to the ship. Try not to draw attention to yourself."
Right as Nathan popped out of the alleyway, Taylor swiftly grabbed the back of his stolen vest right on the neckline and pulled him back in. Right as he was going to protest, he noticed she was pointing at the corpse's wrist. There was a strange silver watch-like device strapped to his wrist, and it glowed in a faint blue color.
"You almost forgot that. That's important."
"Why?" Nathan asked, removing the small wristlet and strapping it onto his arm.
"It's got a bunch of things on it," she said, scrolling through the holographic options on her own wrist. "It's got codes, receivers, transmission lines, and most importantly a translator."
Nathan nodded and synced his device up, enabling the translator and eventually setting it to 'English' with a bit of difficulty in doing so. "Cornerian?" he recited skeptically. "That's a new one."
Taylor nudged him, then walked out of the alleyway with Nathan quickly pursuing. A few soldiers looked over to them, but immediately looked back to whatever it was they were doing prior. The disguise was working.
"So far so good," Taylor muttered silently, inching closer to the giant frigate. They were within fifty feet of the wide open hangar door when a dark furred soldier stopped them. He looked at the badges on their stolen uniforms, then glanced up at them with a slight smile.
"Taking a break guys?" the soldier asked with a chuckle. Nathan nodded and responded.
"Yeah, legs are killing me," he lied, stretching out his leg behind him. The canine chuckled more and lowered his rifle further.
"I don't blame ya… Damn city is huge. Anyway, go ahead and get some rest boys. We'll need you at one hundred when we move inward."
Nathan nodded again and slipped into the large warship. It was bigger than they expected once they walked in and gazed at the large hangar room. There were six distinct aircraft docking bays, with four of the sleek silver and blue fighters missing. After wandering the sprawling halls of the massive ship without anybody noticing their presence, they found a safe and secure place and pulled the canine's shirt out of their faces.
"I can't believe that worked," Taylor admitted. Nathan chuckled and pulled out his silenced 1911.
"Alright, let's snoop around and see if we can find anything."
Taylor nodded and followed Nathan down a long hallway silently. They crept around, making no sudden movements or overly loud sounds as they kept hearing the faint language of the alien animals reverberate in the seemingly desolate hallways. Every once in a while they would sneakily open a door in the cruiser, but it would always contain the same thing; just a few beds, a desk, and a small closet. Nathan approached another door, but hesitated as he heard sounds coming from the other side.
"Tay, there's someone in here," Nathan whispered, and held his gun upwards. He noticed the door was cracked slightly, and managed to eyeball around the room and look at the contents.
"Okay, one guy. Follow my lead, we can take him," he said, then slowly opened the door. There was a small fox creature that was strumming a sleek black guitar and was oblivious to the two humans slowly entering. He had a light brown, almost orange coat of fur, with a cream colored muzzle and eyebrows, and a short mohawk of the same color. His eyes were lowered on the guitar, but they could still see the pale green pigments in them. He was humming as his claws played one string after another. Nathan shut the door, causing it to click softly, but that was all the noise he needed. The fox's ear twitched, and his head looked up to see whoever entered his room, but his muzzle fell open as he saw the humans and instantly donned the look of pure fear.
The fox looked as if he was about to scream, but Nathan raised the weapon at him, which instantly froze the vulpine in absolute sheer terror.
"Nate, wait!" Taylor pleaded. "It's a kid. Don't kill him."
The fox shifted awkwardly and spoke up, barely breaking a petrified whimper. "Hanu'si ruun?" he asked, scooting backwards until his tail hit the back wall. His eyes were wide open and his ears were tilted towards the humans.
Nathan holstered the gun and struggled with the alien device on his wrist. He heard it click, then cleared his throat and looked at the little fox. Taylor quickly stepped in front of him and started speaking.
"Hey, little fella… Don't freak out, we're–"
"Go away! Don't hurt me!" he whined softly, curling up on his bed and burying his muzzle into his knees. Taylor smiled and held her hands up.
"Shh, it's ok, we're not gonna hurt you…"
The fox lifted his head up and cocked it slightly. "You're… not?"
"Of course not," Nathan smiled. "What's your name, buddy?" he asked, taking a few steps towards the vulpine.
"My… name?" he echoed hesitantly, still immensely terrified of his sudden visitors.
"Yes," Nathan chuckled faintly. "Your name. What do they call you?"
"I- I'm Fox," he stuttered, trying to avoid eye contact.
"Aww, that's adorable," Taylor squealed softly in Nathan's ear. "A fox named Fox? That's just too cute."
Nathan ignored her squealing and turned his head back to the little creature. He sat on his bed, causing Fox to scoot backwards even more.
"Hey, my last name is Fox," Nathan said with a smile. "My name's Nathan Fox."
Fox lifted his head back up and grinned slightly at the human. He was very intrigued at the human that was sitting next to him. His body stature looked like a Cornerian, but the fact that he didn't have a bushy tail, ears, or a muzzle confused him. The only fur that he had was very dark and was only around his mouth, cheeks, and neck. He also had a weird, rounded protrusion just over his mouth, and dull green eyes, much like his own. The other one looked much different; it was a female for one, judging by her voice, stature, and appearance. She had very neatly braided light brown hair, and had no fur on her face whatsoever. Nathan noticed the fox's ears perk up and muscles relax slightly and continued.
"That's my friend Taylor," Nathan said, gesturing to the human behind him. She waved happily in acknowledgement. Fox smiled even more and even waved back at the human slightly. He eventually realized that these humans meant what they had previously stated; they were perfectly harmless.
"Why are you here?" Fox asked suddenly, luckily lacking any trace of hostility.
"Oh, uhh… Just looking around, I guess," Nathan hesitantly responded. He made another long glance at the vulpine, then something suddenly clicked in the back of his mind. The eyes, the fur, the tail; they all looked strikingly familiar.
"Hey, are you the Fox? Fox McCloud?"
Fox eyes shot wide open and nodded. "How… How did you know?" he asked with his muzzle slightly hanging open in awe.
Nathan about exploded from fifty different emotions right then and there. Holy shit… THE Fox McCloud… I'm sitting next to Fox fuckin' McCloud… Oh my god I can't believe–
"Seriously, how'd you know?" Fox asked enthusiastically.
"Just a guess?" Nathan lied, shrugging his shoulders. Fox started feeling much more comfortable with the human and backed away from the wall slightly.
"How old are ya, Fox?" Taylor asked politely.
"I'm thirteen."
Thirteen? Why the hell is he so young? Shouldn't he be in his late–
Taylor squealed internally again, and was only a step away from breaking down and hugging the small humanized fox. Nathan rolled his eyes at her and continued.
"Anyway, Fox… why are you here?"
Fox sighed slightly and looked away. "My dad said that you guys launched a rocket at us, but my brother thinks it was an accident…" He looked back up at the human longingly. "Do… you know what happened?"
Brother?
"A rocket?" Nathan echoed curiously, turning back to Taylor. "Why would we launch a missile at these guys?"
"God, man, I don't know. In all honesty, we wouldn't be that stupid to launch a rocket at another planet." Her eyes switched over to the small vulpine. "I think your brother might be right, Fox. We wouldn't launch a missile at you guys."
"Then… what was it?" Fox asked intently.
"Uh… Nate, you got an answer?"
Nathan shrugged and faced Fox. "What did this 'missile' do, bud?"
Fox's ears tilted down and his voice faltered a bit. "It… It blew up our capital city, and it… it…" his eyes started to water, so Nathan inched closer and wrapped his arm around him. He was surprisingly soft and warm, like a regular fox, just with a human stature. Fox didn't fight, much to the human's surprise; as a matter of fact the vulpine nuzzled closer to Nathan and rested his head on the human's shoulder. Taylor finally broke down and joined in on the hug for a few moments.
"Shh, it's ok," Nathan consoled the kit, petting his hair. "I understand… I'm sorry…"
"Wait," Fox started, wiping away tears. "Why are you sorry? I thought you said you didn't do it."
"Fox, obviously we killed someone you loved by accident. I don't know what we did, or why we did it, but we hurt someone, and we did not mean to do it. Me, personally, I hate seeing someone upset like this," Nathan explained, embracing the little fox tighter. "We'll sort things out, I'm sure."
"How?" Fox asked, sniffling faintly. "If you think you can try to talk to them, you're crazy. Dad is pissed, and so is everyone else except for my brother. They wouldn't listen to you."
"Not unless we made them," Nathan added suddenly, lifting Fox's head off his shoulder. Fox tilted his head and looked at Nathan with an eyebrow raised.
"What do you mean?"
Nathan exhaled quietly, then explained. "We can get them to listen to us, but we'll need your help."
Fox again gave the human a quizzical look. "How?"
"Do you agree with your brother, Fox?" Nathan asked calmly after waiting a few seconds. "With us? This was an accident, right?"
The vulpine momentarily hesitated, then slowly nodded. "Yes… I think so too… But, why me? Why do you need me?"
Nathan glanced over at the door where Taylor was standing, and gave a few gestures with his head and hands. She gave a huge smile and nodded in approval, then Nathan quickly turned back to the fox. "We can end this 'war' quickly, but the only way we can is if you come with us."
"With you?" Fox echoed disbelievingly and skeptically. "How will that help?"
"If we can get your father or someone else to realize that we have you, they will be willing to negotiate to get you back."
"What?! Are you insane?" Fox asked with eyes wide. "I'm not a hostage! I don't–"
"No, Fox, trust me," Nathan assured, patting the vulpine's back. "We won't actually take you hostage, we'll just hold on to you until your military lays off this attack. I'll take care of you, I swear."
Fox continued to stare at the bearded human, but eventually the ends of his muzzle curled upwards. "You're sure that this will work?"
"Absolutely," Nathan smiled. "You won't get hurt, and neither will any of your family or anyone else. It'll just be some simple negotiations. I promise."
"You promise?" Fox repeated.
"Of course," Nathan nodded with a smile. "Why would I lie to my childhood hero?"
"What?"
"Oh, uh, never mind… Let's get you out of here."
General Pepper's Flagship
Pepper chuckled faintly as he sat back in his chair and watched his giant holographic screen. The screen showed a large area around Husky Squadron's path, with five dots on the map labelled in a green glow. One by one, the red dots that were farther south disappeared for a brief moment, but were instantly replaced with a green dot. Sometimes even two at a time would transition colors right before the bloodhound's eyes.
Speaking of his eyes, after 45 minutes of staring at the screen watching the red dots change to green, his eyes started getting heavy. He needed to stay awake, but the monotonous beeping from the screen was very hypnotic and it became a struggle to stay conscious. Right as the bloodhound was about to slip away, a white paw was set on his shoulder and startled him, instantly jerking him awake.
"You alright sir?" Vince asked, trying to keep a straight face.
"Ah, I'm ok… just tired," Pepper chuckled, sitting up in the chair.
Vince laughed distantly and looked at the giant screen. "How's the assault coming?"
"No problems at all," Pepper said proudly. "Our fighters have reported very little resistance, and Husky Squadron landed at the capital a while ago."
Vince looked at the bloodhound's screen, and noticed the red dot with the words 'D.C.' was blinking periodically, but didn't completely change to green like the others had. "How long have they been there?"
"I'd say at most fifteen minutes," Pepper responded, then slowly rose out of his chair. "They have been there a while… maybe I should call them."
"It's the nation's capital, sir," Vince explained. "If they are back in an hour, I'll be amazed."
"Ah, you're right. They probably have guards swarming that place all the time. I'm assuming they didn't know about the preliminary attacks because you disabled their satellites, correct?"
"Of course," he hesitantly responded, grabbing at the back of his neck. Thank god he doesn't know that I didn't disable them right away. They were more complex than I thought. How was I supposed to know–
"Good work, Stazac," Pepper praised with a smile. "You can take five for now. I'll call you when I need you."
"Ok, general; take care!" Vince said cheerfully, then walked off of the main bridge.
Vince had a cheesy smile plastered on his maw as he walked down the ship. A bunch of the Cornerian scientists waved, smiled, or even said hi to the arctic fox as he trotted down the long hallways and towards his quarters. As standard issue in the CDF, all living quarters were practically identical. Each room was the same size, and had the same facilities and furniture as all the others. Vince snuck into his quarters, instantly stripped of his white uniform coat, and flopped backwards onto his bed.
Man, it's hot in here, he thought, then sat back up and walked to the small thermostat in the corner of the room above a small bookcase. He punched the down arrow a few times, and within moments could feel the burst of cool air flowing around the room. He also took off his long sleeve shirt and threw on a black, sleeveless shirt from his wardrobe. As he threw the long shirt in the corner of the room, his wrist lit up in a pale blue glow.
"I swear to god Pepper if that's you I'm gonna– James?"
He stared in disbelief at the caller ID, and quickly accepted the call and put his transmitter up to his maw. "Hey James, what's up?"
"Finally, someone answers," James grumbled. "Just callin' to let you know that our first mission was successful. City's completely destroyed. We're heading out in about fifteen."
"Awesome," Vince applauded, sitting back down on his bed. "Any interference?"
"Quite a bit actually," James said somewhat disappointedly. "Dozens of ground soldiers were all over the place. Not terrible though; they weren't well trained."
"That's good to know."
James voice suddenly became much more distant as he started yelling to someone on his end. "Yo, what's in that container? …Supplies? …Yeah, no prob, just make sure to bring it back when you're done, m'kay? We're heading out soon, so don't take too long."
James quickly started talking again in a much louder tone. "Sorry 'bout that. Anyway, your hybrid vest material saved my life. One of their bullets hit me in the chest, but it didn't even go a quarter inch in."
Vince smiled and threw his open paw in the air in success. "I knew it would work!"
"For me it worked, but we did suffer a few casualties."
"Shit… How many?"
"At least six… We're still looking though, so that number isn't final."
"Well, let's hope that number doesn't go any higher," the white vulpine stated, rubbing his white furred arms.
"We can only hope, Vinny… I'm actually on the Great Fox now, and… ngh, hold on a sec Vince, door's stuck."
# Great Fox #
James put his arm down and forced open the door to his quarters with a few faint profanities thrown in as he did so. He exhaled loudly, then picked his arm back up to his maw. "That's better. Remind me when we get back to Corneria that the Great Fox's doors need repairs."
"Why, they jamming up?" Vince asked.
"Sometimes, not all the time though. I swear it's only my door," James grumbled, pawing the door, looking for possible issues.
"You sure it's just yours?"
"Fox's room is right across mine, so I can check his real quick."
James shut his door with a bit more force, then walked across the narrow hall to Fox's quarters. He easily and effortlessly slid the kit's door open, with no problems or broken pieces.
"Yeah, Fox's door opened up right away," James said, then looked around the empty room with an eyebrow raised.
Empty?
"Strange… anyone else's?" Vince asked, but James didn't hear. He was busy looking around the small bedroom for the teenage kit.
"You still there James?" Vince called out distantly after the orange vulpine went silent for a few seconds.
"Yeah, I'm here," James said, unfocused on his conversation. "Fox isn't though. Where'd he go?"
"Probably grabbing something to eat," Vince suggested. James did not need to be told twice as he instantly bolted out of the bedroom and towards the Great Fox's mess hall. It occupied most of the Great Fox's third floor, which made it the second largest room in the dreadnaught warship, second only to the engine and electrical room. He got there in record time, and looked at the dozens of Cornerian soldiers on their lunch break. There might have been thirty Cornerians in there, but Fox was not one of them. James walked up to a large gray feline and spoke up.
"Yo, Wallace, you seen Fox anywhere?"
The feline finished his bite of his sandwich and shrugged. "I haven't seen him. If he's not in his quarters, and not here, he might be on the bridge. He was up there a while ago I think."
"Oh, good idea, thanks!" James patted the feline's back, then again turned around and shot out into the hall. As he was swiftly walking to the bridge, he spoke to the arctic fox that was still on his line.
"Nope, not there either. Might be on the bridge."
"Huh," Vince grunted in curiosity, then chuckled faintly. "Probably just curious as always."
"Got that right," James agreed. "Gonna get himself into trouble the way he is sometimes…"
"Don't be too hard on him, buddy," Vince laughed, then his curiosity quickly took hold. "Also, James, why'd you bring him along anyway? Is it because he wanted to?"
"No, I wanted him to."
"Why? Don't you think you're putting him in danger?"
James sighed as he continued down the hall. "I couldn't leave him back on Corneria with no one to take care of him. Usually Vixy or Wolf takes care of him when I get sent on missions."
"And Wolf's with the Huskies and Vixy's… well…" Vince stopped himself as he noticed he was taking the conversation on the wrong road. "I'm sorry James, I didn't mean to bring that up again."
"No, you're alright Vinny," James said, wiping away a tear. "I miss her just as much as the next guy, believe me. I miss her to death to be honest. But, I realized that I can't stick around the past because that jeopardizes the mission right now. As much as it pains me to say it, I gotta put that event behind me. I have to look towards the future."
"For Fox?" Vince suddenly blurted out, taking the words right out of the orange vulpine's muzzle.
"For Fox," James repeated, a slight smile being creased across his muzzle. He finally walked up and unlocked the bridge's main doors, then stepped inside the bright white plated room. Just like Fox's room, it was completely empty. The confusion quickly transitioned to pure fear and paranoia.
"Vince," James said, his breathing intensifying. "I- I can't find him."
"He's not on the bridg–"
"No," James' cracking and rising voice quickly responded. "I don't know where he is. I can't…" His rapidly increasing breaths caused him to falter a bit and fall onto one knee.
"James, calm down, you'll find him. He's gotta be on the ship somewhere."
"No, Vince, he's not," James blurted out, choking back his emotions.
"Hold on a sec," Vince attempted to calm him down. "Maybe he left you a note somewhere in his room. No telling where he went."
James quickly busted out of the bridge and within moments was back at the kit's room. He started tossing small things around, causing quite a bit of noise. The noise attracted a few soldiers from the adjacent rooms, one of them being the large gray feline Wallace.
"Still haven't found him?" he questioned, stepping into the small bedroom. James shook his head and sat on the bed.
"I- I don't know where he is. He's not here; not on the bridge; not in–"
"What's this?" Wallace asked, pulling a piece of paper off of behind the door. He looked at it for a few moments with a confused look, but had it ripped out of his paws by the orange vulpine. He recognized ten distinct numbers on the top, but underneath it looked like a mess of scribbled calculus equations.
"Whose number is that long?" the feline questioned, tilting the paper towards him. James was still preoccupied on the scribbles below it.
"What is this, though?" James poked at the scribbles. "That some kind of code? Computer coding?"
Wallace gingerly stole the note from his paws, then squinted and brought the paper close to his short muzzle. "Computers use letters and numbers too. This is… gah, I don't know what this is."
James stole the paper back and studied it curiously. He raised an eyebrow as the smudge close to the end of the paper looked familiar to him. His heart skipped a beat once he realized where he'd seen it before. He suddenly jerked his arm forward, punched a few buttons on his transmitter, and held the screen at the unknown words. Slowly, the scribbles on the screen began to pixelate and transform into comprehensible letters for the Cornerians.
Wallace snapped his fingers as the translator continued working. "Oh so it's– …oh fuck."
Will you listen to us now? –The Humans
