A/N: What is this early update?! Hahaha anyway, this is just a little present from me, because I'm feeling pretty good today. Also, this is the start of a little plan I have in the making for the rest of this week and next week too. Just figured I'd give you guys an update about that.
*Just an fyi, this chapter name will make more sense once the next chapter is updated. Is that foreshadowing? Possibly. ;)*

Also, I did finally post my first picture of this story. The link should be right on my profile, so you guys don't need to search for it I hope. Hope you guys enjoy it.

Finally, as usual, thanks so much for the feedback, and I keep encouraging more. Stay awesome you guys, and I'll see you next update!


DAY TWO


Nellis Air Force Base – Las Vegas, Nevada

"Can someone just get the radio lines working?!" a medium sized army officer commanded, looking around the small communications room.

"Sir, we're trying, but they shut us out of our own grids," a controller explained, trying to type his way into the unresponsive satellites.

"How do they shut us out of our own grids?" the officer shot.

"They must have a highly protectant system with them. I can't seem to break the coding inside of it."

The officer growled and walked over to a short-wave landline phone. He swiftly and unconsciously punched in a few numbers and held the receiver up to his ear.

"Any words?"

"Nothing," a static filled voice came back. "Eastern seaboard is gone. That's it. I can't get a hold of anyone."

"Do we know what we're up against?"

"Other than the fact that they are a hell of a lot more advanced than we are, no. We all know they aren't human, but we just don't know what the hell they actually are."

"Not human?" the officer asked skeptically.

"From what we gathered from the east coast attack, their soldiers have ears and tails like dogs. They're like… anthro'd dog soldiers... Shit man, I don't know."

After the message finished relaying, the static became increasingly predominant and eventually plagued the line to the point where the officer couldn't even hear himself think. He tossed the phone aside, then quickly spun around and faced one of the controllers.

"Get as many interceptor squadrons as you can in the air now. Preferably the 22's. I need to–"

He wasn't allowed to finish as a glass shattering explosion tore through the building and shook the military structure with absolute brute force. Everyone was deafened and thrown to the ground as a massive sonic-boom emanated from the building adjacent to the one they were in with a plume of dark black smoke seeping through the shattered windows. Every boom after the first one paled in comparison to that one, but it still shook the ground nonetheless. The officer stood up and looked out of the window, gazing out at a massive dark gray futuristic warship slowly working its way inland. There were countless blue and silver fighter jets swarming the area, pelting the ground with highly reactive blue lasers. Each laser that hit something instantly erupted the object into flames.

"They're here!" the officer shouted, bolting up and opening the door to the hallway. "Everyone, get underground now!"

He watched as people stumbled out of the doorway and down the hall, struggling to stay standing due to the numerous explosions outside the base. Right as the last one exited, a stray laser detonated the far side of the room, tossing the officer up against the far wall of the hallway. He staggered to his feet, then rushed after the numerous controllers towards the underground base with a limp.

Lasers tore into anything and everything within range. The main lobby of the base was nothing more than a charred exoskeleton of quickly deteriorating steel and concrete. The outside looked like a volcano had just erupted due to the thick black smoke and burning fuel. They had struck the aircraft hangars, based on how potent the burning fuel smell was.

He couldn't get a hold of anyone because, as he stated earlier, the grids were down. Not just the satellite imagery and military radio lines, but regular civilian mobile cell lines and receivers were hacked into as well. They were completely left in the dark about anything, except for regular landlines, but that wouldn't help if you were trying to be on the move, trying to escape the sudden onslaught by another power.

They finally made it to the bunker, but right as he was about to shut the door another ear splitting boom emanated from the base. He shut the bunker door, then slumped up against the wall with his head buried in his hands.

"We're so fucked."

# CMD Zoness – Cornerain Military Destroyer 1 #

"Get our ground squads moving," a large sandy tan gecko commanded, pointing at the large screen on the bridge. A canine nodded and pushed his microphone towards him.

"Hunts V, begin assault on westward wing."

The leopard gecko walked up to the weapons manager on the bridge and pointed to a section on his radar. "Target that airfield there. Don't let their aircrafts off the ground."

"Yes sir," the hare responded, then readjusted the large aircraft's weapons to the section the officer just mapped out. Several volatile rockets stemmed from the warship and bathed the airstrip in the trademark pale blue glow. The gecko quietly chuckled maniacally and sat down at his position.

"Sir, incoming transmission from General Pepper," the same light furred canine from before announced. The gecko cracked his knuckles and waited for the hologram to appear.

"Good morning Brigadier Koval," Pepper said cheerfully. "How's your southwestern assault coming?"

"No problems as of yet," he responded. "Just sent in our ground forces. We're at that large air defense post in the middle of the desert. I hope you don't mind, but I did take a slight detour and made an assault on the nearby city here."

"Any problems with that?" Pepper questioned.

"Nope. That was a clean cut fight. No injuries or damages to our squadrons."

"Good work. Keep at it. Once you get to the mountains, call it off and head back up out of the atmosphere. We'll brief you afterward."

"Understood General," Koval responded, but right as the bloodhound attempted to end the call he stopped him. "Didn't you say that Husky Squadron was going to help with this assault?"

Pepper grunted and lowered his head. "That was the plan, but plans don't always follow through, if you get what I'm saying."

"I honestly don't general," Koval said with a hint of bitterness. "Care to explain?"

"During the last point of Husky's campaign, they found some harsh resistance, and had some of their members killed," Pepper explained with a heavy heart. "Their leader, Major Spitz, apparently had a meltdown because of it, so I'm letting their squadron cool off before sending them back into action."

Koval hummed curiously, rubbing the side of his face. "Oh well. Tell them I send my condolences. I'll make sure to carry out their end of the mission."

"Thank you Koval. Pepper out."

The leopard gecko turned around towards the hare operating the weapons controls and spoke to him directly, pointing at a small area just to the north of the base.

"You missed a spot."

The hare nodded and quickly aimed the large Destroyer's weapons at the building. Just as quick as he tapped the red button on his control stick, the building instantly became enveloped in the blue blaze.

"That was the last one, sir," the canine controller spoke up. "Shall we disengage?"

"Not yet," Koval responded, walking over to the controller. "Keep the air squadrons out there. Tell them to comb over this area as thoroughly as possible. I'm not letting a single one of those aliens leave here alive."


General Pepper's Flagship

"Vince?" Arthur called out, banging on the arctic fox's door. "Vince we got a situation topside! We need you now!"

The door practically ripped open with the white vulpine struggling to throw on his white coat. "What's up Arti?" Vince asked expectantly, sticking his arm into one of the sleeves.

"Just follow me," the blue jay commanded, spinning around and bolting down the hall. Vince had just stuck his other arm in the sleeve by the time his blue tail feathers spun around the corner. Vince rushed back inside his quarters, located his wrist transmitter, and then arbitrarily threw it around his arm as he ran after the avian. As he followed the distant sound of Arthur's footsteps, he heard many of the scientists shouting back and forth between each other even at the distance he had with the communications room. By the time the vulpine stuck his muzzle into the comms room, the sound of yelling was downright deafening.

"What's goin' on?" Vince shouted, quieting the room almost instantly.

"We got a ship down," a canine spoke up. "Lost connection with it last night."

"Who?" Vince instantly questioned, rushing up to the brown furred canine.

"That's why we needed you," the canine responded humbly. "You're the only one that can come up with an answer with the little info we have."

"Alright, what'cha got?" Vince asked, rolling up an office chair next to the canine. He quickly scanned the screen, looking at the numerous numbers and terms that flooded the screen.

"Can you get a point on where the Arwing came down Trav?" Arthur asked as he came up behind the two mammals. The dark canine Travis nodded and swiped a map up onto the screen. There was a red dot near the center of the country, off to the west near what looked like a massive mountain range.

"Colorado Springs?" Vince recited confusedly, narrowing his eyes. "That's not a place Pepper plopped down, is it?"

"Naw, he had them down here," Arthur pointed to a southwestern area with his wing. "He didn't want us going into the mountains just yet. That was Star Fox's job."

"Could that be one of Star Fox's Arwings?" Vince asked with a hint of concern.

Travis needed no second moment as he quickly held up his transmitter to his maw. "Peppy? This is Pepper's comms room; we're reporting a missing aircraft, is all of Star Fox accounted for?"

"Missing aircraft?" the hare echoed. "We haven't had any of our Arwing's launch yet, so that's a negative. You're missing a ship?"

"We lost contact with one of our ships late last night. We're trying to decipher who it was," Travis responded, continuously swiping through information on his hologram machine with his other paw.

"Well, Star Fox is all here," Peppy stated. "I'd love to give you a clue but I didn't know about a missing aircraft until just now. Sorry 'bout that."

"Oh well. We'll figure it out. Thanks Peppy."

"He didn't know either?" Vince asked as the canine put his wrist down.

"Nope. It wasn't Star Fox. But… who would be in that area?" Travis asked, turning back to the vulpine. Vince stood up and pushed the canine on wheels back, then slid his own chair over as he took over the controls.

"What's the Arwing's serial?"

"Should be right in the corner," Arthur pointed out. Vince tapped on the code, then ran some backwards checks on it.

"Alright, it's a model 2C. Who runs those?" Vince asked.

"Star Fox rocks the 2A's," Travis piped up, rubbing his paw on his forehead. "2B's are reserved for scouting missions, and I think Husky and Bulldog run 2C's."

"Run some back checks on the Husky's fighters," Arthur suggested, but Vince was way ahead of the blue jay. He had already pulled up all eight of Husky Squadron's registered Arwings, and scanned through their info to see if a code matched. His heart dropped into his lower stomach once the code matched Husky 1.

"Sheila…" Vince muttered under his breath, then stared wide-eyed at the other two scientists. "That's Spitz's Arwing!"


Peterson Air Force Base – Colorado Springs, Colorado

The light copper husky regained consciousness in a small, dimly lit white room. She slowly opened her eyes, gazing upon walls that were completely barren and devoid of all color or features surrounding her on all four sides. The only thing she could physically make out at the moment was the silver, metal chair she was strapped to. Both of her wrists and ankles were bound to the chair by very thick, black, leather straps. She gradually regained her vision, enabling her to see a small table in the corner of the room, which held her transmitter, her handgun, and a few other things that she recognized from her Arwing, as well as… her flight suit?

Sheila's heart skipped a beat when she noticed what she was wearing. It was a very thin, very loose fitting one-piece hospital gown like garment with pale blue dots sporadically scattered all over it. She also felt a somewhat embarrassing draft right underneath where her light copper tail escaped the clothing. Obviously the humans didn't really care what the husky was wearing, as long as she was clothed.

She also noticed her midsection didn't really hurt all that much anymore. In fact, when she was able to crank her head down to where the stomach wound was, all she could make out was a thick, pure white bandage covering the large gash. Did the humans really help her survive? She knew it for a fact that she would have bled out with the massive incision on her midsection had it not been treated immediately. Granted, it still hurt slightly, but at least she wasn't staining her own fur with her blood anymore.

She tried to make another movement, but instantly realized the humans' bonds were much tighter than her clothing. Sheila grunted as she moved her arms to try and break her restricting bonds, but it was just as useless as trying to lift a full-sized truck with her bare paws. As she was struggling, a tall bearded human walked into the room with a slight smirk at the bound anthro.

"Ahh, I see our little puppy is awake?" he taunted, causing the husky's ears and head to shoot upward. She stared at the human with a scowl, but was still frightened as she had no way of defending herself if he attempted to swing at her.

"Luches ne vien'ce di," Sheila growled, causing the smirk on the human to fade away and be replaced with a questioning stare.

"What?"

Sheila gave her own confused stare back, then realized that the human couldn't understand her, and vice versa. She jerked her head in the direction of the table, grunting faintly as she was trying to point out the transmitter.

The human eventually caught on to the husky's movements after a few seconds, then slowly trotted to the table in the corner of the room. He held his hand over the transmitter and looked back at the bound husky, causing her to nod her head in approval. He hesitantly picked up the device and looked at the strange pale blue holographic screen. Sheila grunted again and nodded her head towards herself.

This guy is so stupid, Sheila thought as the human gave another quizzical stare. She managed to wiggle one of her fingers free, and was frantically waving it to grab the human's attention.

"What do you want from me you dumb dog?" The human questioned out loud, knowing the husky would not understand him. He held out his hand that had the transmitter towards the husky, causing her to nod again. He put the device right in front of the husky's muzzle, and she was able to select settings with the tip of her nose. As soon as she realized she had enabled the translator, she started speaking in a very enraged tone.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Sheila snapped, catching the human off guard. He put his hand over his suddenly fast-beating heart and spoke to himself in a low voice.

"They have a translator?" he asked himself, then lifted his head back up to the husky. She was breathing heavily with a nasty scowl on her face, and her extremely voluminous light brown hair was tangled and scattered everywhere around her face. He curled his eyebrows down as he continued.

"The real question is, who are you, and what are you doing?" he questioned, himself donning a disapproving face.

"What's it matter to you?" she spat. The human looked at her with a sly smirk and inched closer to the husky.

"It's simple, really," he said, revealing a small knife from his jacket pocket. "Tell me who you are and what you're doing here, and I'll let you live."

Sheila's eyes shot wide open as the dim light reflected off of the blade. "No– p-please don't–"

"Well, that got your attention, didn't it?" he taunted, spinning the blade between his fingers. "I'll ask you one more time; tell me who you are and what you're doing here."

Sheila continued to stare at the large officer with a blank stare. She was completely frozen in fear. The human shook his head and walked over to the table, then picked up her tattered flight suit.

"If you won't tell me, maybe this will," he said, eyeballing the jacket. He pulled a golden pendant off the front pocket and examined it curiously, then lifted his head back up with a grin.

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Sheila," he grinned, getting another angry stare from the husky. He put the pendant down, then curiously examined a small passport shaped book that was in her pants pocket. He hesitantly put the transmitter screen up against the book to have it translated for him, then lifted an eyebrow as he once again made eye contact. "Only nineteen eh? Pretty young for a pilot, no?"

Sheila curled her eyebrows downward. "Alright, you know who I am, now who are you?"

He put down the husky's jacket as he continued. "My name is Colonel Edler. I run this Air Force base, and I also enforce the airspace around here as well, which you have directly violated."

"Like I knew," Sheila interrupted with an angry stare.

"Don't give me that bullshit," Edler snapped back, holding up the husky's badge. "Says here you are Major Sheila Spitz, commander of a so called 'Husky Squadron', and if I'm not mistaken, this Husky Squadron led an attack on our eastern coastal cities, correct?"

Sheila could only give a slight nod back. Edler chuckled silently and let a slight grin escape his mouth.

"Sweetie, I want to make this job as quick and painless as possible," Edler tried explaining calmly, but Sheila's loud growl silenced him.

"Do not call me that ever again," she commanded angrily. "Call me that again and I'll claw your eyes out."

"A-ta-ta-ta-ta, let's not get snippy, Miss Spitz," Edler said condescendingly, inching closer to the husky with the blade raised.

"Alright, alright," Sheila pleaded, forcing her neck back in the chair. "What do you want from me?"

Edler fingered the blade of the knife as he glared at the husky. "I want you to explain why you are here, before I make myself a new fur coat; understood?"

Sheila shuddered with another look of terror as the blade came ever so closer to her face. She opened her maw, but all that came out was a high pitched squeak as her vocal chords got strung out in fear.

"Now, Sheila, I am a gentleman, so I would never hit a lady, especially a young one such as yourself, under any circumstances," Edler announced, then leaned over toward the husky, putting his open hand on the chair back. Sheila tried to fight him off, but her bounds were tight and tough to break to the point where she was completely unable to move. She turned her head away from the human, but she suddenly felt a warm hand clamp around her muzzle and jerk her face to face his own.

"But, I don't think that definition pertains to your kind, especially after what you're doing to us," he added with a scowl. He adjusted his handle on her muzzle, then tugged on it, causing the female to whimper in pain.

"Tell me why you're here!" he questioned angrily, letting her maw go and backing up a bit, still with the knife tightly grasped in his hand.

"Revenge!" she blurted out on impulse, completely petrified in fear. As soon as the yelp escaped her maw, she instantly looked at the human with wide eyes. "P-please, don't hurt me! I'll tell you everything I know! Just don't hurt me!"

"Revenge? For what?" he asked, bringing the blade closer to the husky. Sheila was stuttering noticeably and was fidgeting in her seat, her tail flicking wildly behind her.

"Your missile!" Sheila cried, practically on the verge of tears. "You humans launched a missile at our capital! You murdered our city!"

"You can't be serious," Edler stated skeptically. Sheila haphazardly blew some of her hair out of her eyes.

"You targeted our city with a missile!" Sheila continued, breathing heavily in pure fear. "I- I don't know why, but that's what everyone else says!"

Edler shook his head slowly. "No… No there's absolutely no way that's true. We would never deliberately attack someone if they didn't have a reason to start it in the first place. That's not our policy to start an attack first."

"W-What?" she stuttered softly, raising her eyebrows.

Edler let out an impatient sigh. "If you're implying we started something with your kind, we didn't. Whatever you're basing your attack off, that being this so called 'missile' we didn't launch, it's flawed. I would've received word if we openly attacked someone."

Sheila looked down at the floor momentarily, then jerked them back up with an angry stare. "Are you trying to lie to me?"

"Pardon?"

"Don't give me that," Sheila snapped, feeling her anger resurface. "How can you tell me you didn't attack us when I watched some of my teammates die earlier during our assault because of you humans?!"

"Are you seriously gonna try and disprove me with that?" Edler questioned loudly with a frown, instantly quieting the canine. "Don't you understand? You're attacking, and we're defending! What, you think we'll just sit back and watch while you animals kill everyone? Absolutely NOT!"

Sheila yipped when the human drove his fist into the table, leaving a large dent in the piece of furniture. He suddenly kicked the table over and growled at the husky menacingly.

"There's something you're not telling me! Spill it!"

"I swear!" the light copper husky pleaded. "That's all I know! I swear on my life!"

Edler inched closer a bit, then smirked as he looked back at the anthro pilot. "That can be arranged," he snickered, then forcefully slapped the husky's muzzle. She yelped loudly and felt the intense sting flow from the impact sight all over her face. "What else do you know?" Edler irately commanded.

She whimpered as she attempted to explain herself again, barely breaking a whisper. "I told you everything I–"

"Quit lying!" he barked, again lashing out and smacking Sheila harshly. She instantly felt her upper lip split, and blood starting seeping out and dripping off of her maw. The intense pain she was feeling was increasing exponentially as the waves of pain reverberated across her maw.

"I'm… not…" she struggled, breathing heavily and trying to hold in tears.

"Don't make this harder than it needs to be," Edler commanded. "Tell the truth; what did we do to piss you animals off?"

"But… I just did–"

The human this time bent over and slugged the husky's stomach with a brutal blow. Sheila wheezed and sputtered, feeling her stomach wound start to resurface. The light hospital gown started to transition colors from the pale blue to a deep crimson as the blood seeped through the bandaging, but that didn't discourage another hard strike from the human's hand. She groaned out in immense pain and doubled over, drooping her head low and letting it hang off her shoulders. A mixture of tears and blood formed on her improvised clothing as she sniffled and gasped for breath.

Edler grabbed a fist full of the husky's light cinnamon hair and yanked it upward, causing Sheila to cringe and howl in pain.

"This is your last chance, mutt," Edler growled, "Talk, or suffer. Your choice."

Sheila disregarded her increasing bruises and total pain and spat right in the human's face. He recoiled and used his sleeve to wipe the dog slobber from his face. Sheila snarled as the officer staggered backwards, rubbing his sleeve all over his beard.

"Fuck you, asshole," Sheila growled, struggling to speak. "I told ya everything I knew! Just let me go already!"

Edler let out a loud, sarcastic laugh which cut off the husky as he made another nasty glare at her. "You think I'll let you go after that? Oh, hell no… You've just made the biggest mistake of your life."

The human, to Sheila's surprise, did not charge after her with the knife. Instead, he placed it down on the table near her tattered flight suit. He donned a sly smirk as he walked back to the husky, making her freeze up in fear.

"You think I'll let you go after you just blatantly and repeatedly lied to me? I don't believe you one bit! You'll just go out and tell them exactly where to hit next if I try and let you go!"

"I promise!" Sheila pleaded breathily, trying to withhold her pain. "I won't do anything else! I just want to go home!" she cried, finally exploding into tears. She hung her head low, crying loudly as numerous tears flowed out of her eyes and off her muzzle, dripping onto the cold tile floor and her bloodstained gown. Edler chuckled quietly and patted the husky's voluminous hair.

"If you want to go home so bad, all you need to do is answer my questions," he reiterated in a fake soft voice, petting the husky like the canine she looked like.

"I told you everything I knew," Sheila growled quietly, not raising her head up. Every stroke the human made on her hair kept increasing her anger level towards him.

"Oh come on, don't be like that," Edler said condescendingly.

That was the final straw.

Sheila swiftly jerked her head up, then clamped her muzzle down harshly on the human's hand. She felt her canine teeth puncture his skin, and pretty soon tasted blood as her pressure on his hand increased. Edler groaned loudly and attempted to remove his hand, but the husky's teeth were so sunk into his flesh that her head jerked around with his arm. Edler lashed out with his other hand and brutally slugged the side of her maw, instantly releasing the pressure. He managed to pull out his hand and attempted to apply pressure on the broken skin, but realized one of the husky's long canine teeth came with as it was still imbedded in the back of the man's hand. He winced as he extracted the tooth and threw it against the wall, then turned back to give an absolutely nasty scowl to the canine who had a steady stream of blood running out of her muzzle.

"Fuckin' hurt, didn't it?" Edler irately questioned, feeling his rage finally boil over. His face was about as red as the blood that was pouring out of the four holes on the front and back of his hand.

Sheila spit out a large amount of blood on the ground near her chair; most of it not her own. "Maybe if you would've listened to me, you wouldn't have that problem!" she snapped with a lisp, trying to stop the waterfall of blood flowing from where her tooth was abruptly ripped out. "I told you I said everything I knew! You brought it on yourself!"

"Me? Listen to you?" Edler said with overwhelming hostility. "Absolutely not! You've crossed the line! I've had it! I've had it with the lies, the disrespect, and most of all–"

Edler again lashed out and smacked the husky's muzzle with more force than before. "I've had it with you animals killing us for absolutely no reason!"

The colonel didn't hesitate as he vented more of his blind and unrelenting rage on the female husky, slapping her vigorously, painfully, and repeatedly. Blood seeping out of the husky's missing tooth wound was splattered all over the floor and wall as he continued to brutally abuse her. By the time he was done, Sheila was crying loudly with blood and tears dripping off of her muzzle. Edler snarled and grabbed the husky's muzzle again, making sure not to let her bite him again as he held it towards his face. He put so much acidic inflection on his words that he could easily melt steel with his sentence.

"I'm going to ask you again… What the fuck do you want from us?"

Sheila couldn't respond as her maw was throbbing in pain and would not move. Edler popped his lips and threw his arms to his side in defeat. He donned a disapproving stare and shook his head in negativity, then pulled a small device from his pocket and put it up against his face.

"Get this bitch out of my sight," he growled into the receiver. "Lock her up, and don't let her leave. Make sure to patch her up first; I don't want her dying on us."

He made another quick glance to the canine, who had her head hanging low with the continuous flow of blood increasing the puddle that had formed near her chair. He exhaled angrily and continued speaking.

"I'm not through with her just yet."


Suburban Colorado Springs, Colorado

"Guys, we're coming into the city. Keep your heads down," Nathan commanded, trying to quickly slip through the urban city streets without it looking conspicuous. Fox had thrown on Nathan's old hoodie, which flooded on his much smaller vulpine frame, allowing him to throw the hood up over his face and cover everything except for the tip of his muzzle. Wolf lowered his seat and tried his best to conceal himself due to the lack of clothing he had at the moment with the blanket he found in the glove box.

"How far away?" Wolf's muffled voice escaped the blanket.

"Not too far," Nathan chuckled, making a sharp turn to the right. "Just down here and off to the corner."

"Where are we going anyway?" he asked.

"A friend of mine has a house up here," Nathan replied. "He's off on military duty for a while now, but I know how to get in."

"You humans are insane; breaking into other people's houses," Wolf stated with a faint laugh.

"Ay, it's not breaking in if you got permission first," he explained. "He told me if I was ever in the area and needed a place to stay, I was more than welcome to stop by. We can easily camp out here without anyone knowing."

"And he's not home?"

"Nope. He's off in… I think Kansas for some military training. He won't be home for a while."

"Perfect," Wolf purred, adjusting his large frame in the seat. Nathan expertly drove down the streets without drawing eyes to himself, and within moments was at the front door of a small suburban house.

Being it was the middle of October, and being at such a high altitude, the air was crisp and cool. They were predicting a fairly strong storm in the near future, which wasn't surprising being in the climate they were in. The overcast skies made it extremely gloomy, and the occasional gust of wind made the human feel chills down his spine. Luckily, his somewhat scruffy beard and his long-ish brown curly hair kept his head relatively warm in the cool climate.

Nathan pulled into the driveway and turned the car off, then looked around to see if anybody was watching.

"Alright, let me unlock the door first, then I'll come back."

He popped out of the car and walked up to the front door of the small white house. He found the key right where he expected it to be; not under the welcome mat to avoid the predictable cliché, but hiding underneath a small potted plant on the front porch. He removed the key, unlocked the door, and then shot back to the car in a heartbeat.

"Go inside and make yourself at home. I'll grab the gear from here and I'll be back in a second."

Wolf scooped up the crippled vulpine and rushed out of the car and into the small house quickly, making sure nobody saw them. Nathan pulled the large suitcase, the small red backpack, the tod's crutches, and the heavy black briefcase from the trunk of the car, and sped up into the house with the equipment. He set the gear off to the side of the small-ish living room, then sat on the couch up against the wall.

The house wasn't large, and it consisted of a living room with two medium sized couches and a TV mounted on the wall on the adjacent side of the front door, three bedrooms in a hallway on the same wall as the TV with a bathroom joining those rooms, and a decently sized kitchen on the other side near the front door as well. The walls were a calm cream color, which complemented the oak hardwood floors perfectly. There was also a large glass door overlooking a decently sized backyard deck on the opposite side of the front door. It wasn't big because Nathan's friend that purchased it thought ahead; knowing that he wouldn't be home for very much due to his training. Granted, it was a nice house, and it was a perfect place to unwind after a long weekend of harsh military training.

Nathan picked up the small black TV remote from the wooden coffee table in the middle of the room and flipped the forty inch TV on. As soon as the screen became visible, he groaned loudly as static and white noise filled the room.

"Yo Wolf," Nathan started, turning to the lupine who just threw on a heavier jacket from his bag. "When you said your scientists hacked into our satellites, did they hack all of them?"

"I wouldn't bet against it," Wolf stated, flopping back on the other couch. "They probably killed all comms for you guys on this planet to avoid the news being spread. I doubt anyone here knows what's going on in the slightest."

"But, what about the National Guard we ran into before we pulled in here? They wouldn't be patrolling the streets unless something was up. Obviously they know something."

Wolf hummed and caressed his muzzle. "Anything of importance up here military wise?"

"Actually, there's the Aerospace Command center here not too far away," Nathan realized. "They might have been the ones to discover the start of the attack."

"Figures," Wolf grumbled, adjusting himself on the couch. He pulled up his arm and once again was messing with the transmitter's settings. Nathan's curiosity finally got the best of him as he turned his head towards him and questioned.

"You've been messing with that thing for ages, what are you even trying to do?"

"I've been trying to get a call through without alerting the guys on the ship," Wolf answered, not looking up from his wrist. "With my transmitter in pieces back at the Destroyer, and me finally disabling that damn tracking chip the CDF has everyone get, I can't seem to get my calls to work."

"How recently did you disable that?" Nathan asked with urgency.

"Chill out Nate, I got it off almost as soon as we took off last night," the gray lupine responded calmly. "They have no idea where we are at all. It's only a matter of telling them."

"I left them my number before we took off with Fox," Nathan blurted out, holding up his phone.

"Nate, if they call you, they can easily track you, ya know?" Wolf said with a hint of skepticism.

"Not anymore," Nathan said with a grin, tapping on his phone. "Just turned off the location services on it. We are completely under the radar."

"Nothing of yours can be tracked at all?"

"Not a single thing," Nathan answered with another grin. "All we need to do is wait for them to call us."

Wolf smiled faintly as he sank back down on the couch. Nathan shot up after a while and walked over to the lupine, then patted his knee that was sticking straight up off the couch.

"You hungry Wolf? I'm sure I can fix up a meal real quick."

"Yes, thank you," Wolf answered ravenously. Nathan nodded and disappeared into the kitchen, and as the human shut the kitchen door behind himself Wolf popped up and walked over to the vulpine on the other couch.

"You alright, Foxie?" Wolf asked, dropping down and grabbing the vulpine's upper arms.

"I- I'm…" Fox stuttered, then realized the human wasn't in earshot. He still kept his voice at a low whisper and tilted his ears backwards as he continued. "I'm scared Wolf. I don't know what's gonna happen."

"Neither do I, but we have to trust him," Wolf stated. "I know, I've got my doubts about him, but he knows what he's doing. We just gotta trust him."

"But… he almost…" Fox cringed, remembering the terrifying incident from last night. Wolf sighed and sat on the couch, bringing the kit in for a comforting hug.

"I was just as scared as you were, Fox," Wolf admitted, laying his muzzle on top of his head. "In all honesty, I didn't like him one bit after he did that. But… we gotta listen to him. I trust him, because he's our best bet of making it out of here alive."

"What do you mean?" Fox asked intently, making eye contact with the wolf.

Wolf sighed again and lowered his ears. "I have a funny feeling that none of us will make it out alive if we keep attacking. The humans will find a way to get us back if we don't stop."

Fox whimpered slightly as he buried himself in Wolf's loose fitting jacket.

###

"Great Fox taking heavy fire!" Peppy shouted on the bridge, trying to lift the massive dreadnaught out of weapons range, but only succeeded in tilting the ship at a ten degree angle. Another rocket detonated on the hull of the ship just below the electrical room, rocking the ship violently.

"Where the hell did they all come from?!" James questioned, trying his best to help the hare stabilize the ship. Missiles were now flying at the ship in every direction, hitting the hull repeatedly. The loud alarm blaring only added to the grim and intense moment that the mercenary group had to deal with.

"Shit! Fighters 7 and 9 just went down!" a bridge attendant shouted, pointing down at the ground where two fireballs just erupted from. James growled again and took to the weapons controls.

"Targeting the nearest base," James announced, focusing his aim towards a large ground structure. Tens of hundreds of rockets and bullets flowed from the building and pelted the warship, causing the alarms to blare louder and at a faster frequency.

One of the rockets hit the plasma cannon right as it was charging, causing a massive explosion and shaking the bridge violently. The alarms instantly ceased blaring, as well as all of the controls becoming unresponsive. The Great Fox had taken her crippling blow.

"DAD!" Fox shouted from the doorway as the warship slowly plummeted to the ground. The engines had completely failed, as well as the G-diffusers and other stabilizers. James stumbled out of his chair and rushed up to the kit, grabbing him and embracing him tightly.

"I'm so sorry Fox," James said with tears in his eyes, watching as the ground quickly started becoming closer. "This is all my fault."

"Dad," Fox called out, struggling to stay standing because of the quickly plummeting ship.

"I love you Fox," James cried softly, burying his face into the kit's fur. "Please forgive–"

###

Fox cringed as the dreadnaught erupted into flames right as it impacted the ground. Wolf felt the kit's discomfort and embraced him even tighter than before.

"I'll protect you Fox," he said softly into the vulpine's ear. "I'll make sure to keep you safe. You're my brother. Brothers stick together, no matter what."

Fox removed his maw from Wolf's shoulder and looked at the lupine's grin, himself donning a slight smile as he felt another tear form in his emerald eyes.

"I love you Wolf," Fox blurted, then instantly fell back into Wolf's jacket. Wolf smiled even larger than before, feeling the sense of belonging and adoration again. He had lost all sense of it ever since Sheila had blown up at him, and he never felt that gap fully close itself until now. He did have someone who cared about him, and that was the best feeling the lupine could ever ask for.

"I love you too little bro," Wolf responded, fighting back a tear as he rubbed the back of the kit's mohawk. "I love you too."


Odd one, you're never alone
I'm here and I will reflect you
Both of us basically unattached
To anything, or anyone, unless we're pretending
You live your life in your head
Some call it imagination
I'd rather focus instead on anything except
What I'm feeling
What I'm feeling, odd one…

Hey, It's gonna be ok
Hey, were gonna laugh at this one day

*Odd One – Sick Puppies*