Chapter 11
Ecks' eyes opened, he was lying on the floor of the bridge of the Great Fox II, Fox, Krystal and Cross were all looking at him, each face with a look of concern for the dark blue vulpine, "What happened?" Ecks asked, catching the attention of the others, Cross immediately sat down next to his brother, helping him sit up.
"We escaped, just barely though." Fox answered.
"How long was I out?" The dark blue vulpine asked as he started to sit up.
"Five minutes."
"Where are we?" Ecks was now standing.
"We haven't figured that out yet, ROB is scanning the area," Fox placed his paw on his chin and turned away for a moment, clearly deep in thought, "What I want to know is, how did they find us?" He asked himself more than anyone else.
"Possibly a tracking device?" Krystal questioned.
"No, they would've needed to be close to us somehow, none of them were near any of the Arwings, so that's out of the question...unless," Fox's eyes widened as he came to a realization, "Ecks, I know you're exhausted but, would you and Cross come with me for a minute?" He asked, turning back towards the two vulpines.
Ecks and Cross looked at each other, Cross shrugged his shoulders, the two looked back at Fox, "Sure." Ecks answered.
"Right, let's go." Fox turned towards the door, the two brothers close behind.
A few moments passed as the three vulpines walked down the halls of the massive ship, "Fox, where exactly are we going?" Ecks asked, not sure of what Fox was thinking.
"You'll see," The light brown vulpine answered.
The three soon came to a metal door, Cross recognized the door, and a smirk came across his face.
Fox opened the door to the dark metal room where they found a black panther with a red chest-plate covering his entire upper body except for his arms, black armoring on his legs, and dark red boots as he was lying face-down on the floor with a blood-stained left arm that was wounded badly with tears coming from the shoulder down to the forearm and had a small chipped piece of bone sticking out of the elbow area, the panther saw the three vulpines enter the room, he noticed Cross more than the other two as a look of terror appeared on his face. Fox and Ecks shifted their noses at the scent of the bloody room, while as Cross simply didn't care.
Cross walked over to the panther, who started to back away and cower in fear, "So, do you know anything about a tracking device?" Cross asked, extending his clawed index finger as a reminder to what happened earlier when the panther wouldn't cooperate.
"N-no." The panther answered, shaking from fear.
"Bullshit, you know something, and you're gonna tell me what I want to know, unless of course you like pain." Cross smirked.
"I know nothing." The panther started to panic.
"Do you see this on my head?" Cross pointed to the large black X on his forehead, "It means I'm a failed experiment, but I'm sure you know all about that, after all you're in league with Choas, which means," Cross paused as he bared his claws again, "No mercy," The vulpine added coldly, still with an evil smirk on his face, "So, I'll ask you again, do you know anything about a tracking device?"
The panther slowly shook his head from side to side, the poor animal didn't even have a chance for a second thought as Cross picked him up by the throat without warning with his left paw and slammed him up against the wall to his right, "This is getting aggravating," Cross said as he glared at the panther and tightened his grip around his throat, causing the feline to gasp for air, "Ecks, where is the tracking device at?"
The dark blue vulpine was silent for a moment, "It's in his neck, left side, underneath the skin."
Cross then took his free paw and dug his clawed index finger into the side of the panther's neck as he still held him tightly by the throat, "This is what happens when you lie," Cross before ripping out the small tracking chip, causing gurgled screams of pain to escape from the feline's mouth as Cross still kept hold of his throat, "If there is anything else you're hiding, you should tell us now." The dark red vulpine said as he ripped the small chip in half.
"They are trying to find pieces a powerful weapon, they don't know where it is, but they know it's powerful enough to destroy anyone who comes in their path." Ecks said, causing surprised looks from Cross and Fox.
"Nice job Ecks." Fox said, suddenly remembering that Ecks had telepathic abilities.
Cross turned back to the choking feline, "Now we just need to find a way to dispose of you." He said, the already terrified panther was now trying his best to escape the vulpine's grasp, but no matter how much he struggled, Cross' grip wasn't letting up.
"We can't send him back to Doombringers, because then he'll tell them our position, even though we don't even know where we are," Fox said as he was deep in thought, trying to find any excuse not to take this panther's life, "We can't let him stay here, because he'll betray us."
"Killing him is an option." Cross coldly added as he released his hold on the panther who fell to his knees, coughing and gasping for air.
"It seems like the only option." Ecks said.
"Wait, I have an idea." Cross' eyes lit up as a grin appeared on his face as the panther started to stand, the red vulpine looked at the feline, "If you can knock me down with a punch, I'll let you go, but if you can't, then you die, it's that simple."
Once the panther was upright, it was clear that he was much taller than Cross, which of course was no surprise considering Cross' height in the first place, the panther was somewhat hesitant to strike the red vulpine.
Cross noticed his hesitation, "Here, I'll even put my paws behind my back and close my eyes." He said with a smirk as he proceeded to do so.
The panther reared back his right arm, a moment later he struck the vulpine with a shattering force that would break any normal animal's jaw, Cross' body didn't move an inch, "You guys might want to leave." Cross told Fox and Ecks before spitting out a large ball of blood, the two left, a few moments later the panther's screams could be heard throughout the halls of the ship.
Cross walked out of the room a few minutes later, his normally white shirt drenched in blood, and his fur was matted down, Ecks was standing outside of the room, "You just can't help yourself can you?" The dark blue vulpine asked.
"Anyone associated with Chaos will get no remorse and no mercy from me," Cross replied, "I need a change of clothes." He added while looking down at his now bloody shirt.
"Before you go, what exactly did you do?" Ecks said as Cross was turning to leave.
"What do you mean?"
"How did you, you know, kill him?"
"Well, I bit his throat out, like I said, anyone associated with Chaos gets no mercy."
"I see, that vicious streak of yours will come in handy my brother." Ecks said as Cross walked down the hall in the direction of his room.
Ecks went into the room to see that the black panther was dead, half of his neck looked as if it was chewed off, while on the other side of the room there was a bloody piece of fur, Ecks figured it was the part of the neck, the blue vulpine then closed his eyes as a bright light filled the room, a few seconds later Ecks left the room and decided to go back to the bridge.
When he arrived, he saw that only Fox, Krystal and Zivia were there, Fox was sitting in his chair while Zivia and Krystal were sitting on the couch, Fox was clad in a white tee-shirt that bore the Star Fox logo, a pair of dark green cargo pants, and of course his combat boots, Krystal however had taken a different approach, wearing a bright pink tee-shirt and a pair of white pajama pants, this was no surprise considering she was asleep when the Great Fox II was attacked, Zivia obviously didn't waste any time in making herself comfortable as she was wearing a sky-blue tank-top and a pair of black shorts that only went a few inches down her thighs.
"Hey, where's Cross?" Fox asked as the dark blue vulpine floated into the room, he clearly had regained his strength since they were attacked.
"He went back to his room to change his clothes." Ecks answered as he hovered to the window to look at the seemingly endless amount of stars as the Great Fox II floated in the depths of space.
"Why?" Fox asked.
"Well, let's just say that the cat's death wasn't pretty."
"Okay." Fox knew what Ecks meant, he knew what Cross was capable of, so he didn't ask any further questions about it.
"Where did everyone go?" Ecks asked.
"Falco and Slippy went back to their rooms, and Hax took Alexia back to the medical bay, and I'm gonna head to bed soon." Fox answered while standing up from his seat.
"Have you found out where we are?" Ecks was full of questions today.
"So far all we know is that we're somewhere in the outskirts of the Lylat System, but that's all we can come up with for now," Fox answered, "We need to get rid of the cat's body, I don't want my ship smelling like a slaughter house," The light brown vulpine said, changing the subject, "Hey Ecks, can't you teleport the body or something like that?"
"I already did that." Ecks said.
"Then I'm gonna go to bed, I don't know what we're going to do but, we'll figure it out," Fox said as he turned to leave the bridge, and stopped, "Could I offer you a room?"
"No thanks, I'll just sleep here." Ecks answered, still not taking his eyes away from the stars.
"Suit yourself." Fox said as he left the bridge.
Krystal left shortly after Fox did, she knew he was probably sleeping in her room as he usually did ever since they became lovers, Zivia stayed on the bridge though, "So Ecks, you're Cross' brother?" Zivia asked suddenly, startling Ecks.
"Yes I am." He answered.
"Interesting, I wonder, do you two share thoughts, like finishing each other's sentences?"
Well, no, but I do read his thoughts, as I am reading yours right now." The blue vulpine said with a grin.
"Hmm, then what am I thinking right now?"
Ecks was silent for a brief moment, and then the sides of his face turned a dark purple.
"So, what was I thinking?" Zivia asked.
"I'd rather not say it." The blue vulpine's cheeks were still purple.
"Why not? Unless of course you're not a telepath."
Ecks thought for a moment, "Fine," He said before taking a deep breath, "You were thinking that even for my age, I'm pretty attractive." He told her while turning back to look at the stars.
"Is that what I was thinking? Oh silly me," Zivia said with a giggle, "Even though," The vixen started, "I'm only seventeen you know." She added with a wink, causing Ecks to blush even more, his cheeks turning a brighter purple, making the vixen chuckle a bit, she knew about Ecks' psychic abilities, but she thought it would be fun to mess with him.
Just then Cross walked onto the bridge, he had a plain black tee-shirt on, a baggy pair of dark blue-jeans, and of course his white sneakers, the dark red vulpine walked over and stood beside Ecks and noticed that his face was purple, "What's wrong with you?" Cross asked.
"Nothing, I'm fine." Ecks lied.
"Why is your face purple?" Cross asked again.
"No reason." Ecks answered calmly, still not taking his eyes away from the window where he stared into space.
Cross looked at Zivia, then a grin appeared on his face, "Oh I get it, I was interrupting something, I guess I'll leave then." He turned to exit the bridge.
"Wait." Ecks pleaded as he turned his silver eyes away from the stars only to see that Cross had already left, he sighed and turned back around to face Zivia, now that he had gotten a good look at her, he found that she was rather attractive herself, her long, straight red hair went with her bright orange fur was well taken care of, the pure red line that shot down her face was a perfect color match to her hair, the line went to her arms, all the way to her paws, splitting at the fingers and running down each of them and to her claws, the red line continued to run down into her chest, shooting straight down between her breasts, it was clear that the line was patterned throughout her body, shooting down her legs and even to her toes, the vixen's body was in terrific shape, her hips curving at a wondrous angle, her legs perfectly proportioned, her eyes were a bright yellow, almost bright as the stars themselves, Ecks thought that only a fool of a fox wouldn't find this vixen attractive, and Ecks certainly was no fool.
Ecks noticed that he was staring and quickly looked away, his dark blue cheeks once again turning purple, causing a giggle from the vixen, "Here," Zivia said, "Come sit with me, I want to talk with you." She added, patting the cushion on her right, Ecks regained his composure and floated to where the vixen sat, taking a seat of his own beside her.
"So, what would you like to talk about?" Ecks asked, he was a bit nervous while talking to Zivia.
"It's funny how different you two are," The vixen said, "You and Cross I mean."
"How so?" Ecks' voice cracked a bit, he wasn't sure why he was so nervous, Zivia was just another animal, but for some reason he couldn't speak correctly.
"You're always so calm and collected, and yet your brother has a certain presence to him that makes you feel somewhat scared," Zivia answered.
Ecks became less nervous at hearing this, "That's because my brother has had a tough past, sure we were both experiments, but he was tossed aside by our own father and couldn't even remember who or what he was for eight years, he was originally created to fight in a savage-like manner, but that has escalated into something more, he shows no remorse of mercy to his enemies."
Zivia was completely still, looking straight into Ecks' eyes.
"Uh...Zivia, is something the matter?" Ecks asked with concern.
"No, just appreciating life." She answered as her bright yellow gaze was trained on his gleaming silver eyes, Ecks wasn't sure what he was feeling, but he liked it, it made him feel happy, he couldn't figure out why he was so happy just from talking with this vixen that he just met, the two foxes just sat there, simply looking into one another's eyes as the hours passed by like minutes.
6:30 AM
Hax was asleep in the bed with Alexia in the medical bay under the sheets, he was determined to never leave her side again, the dark lupine's fur made him invisible in the dark room, but Alexia could feel his arm draped across her body as the two slept soundly.
The door slid open, a few seconds later Hax felt something touch his arm, he instantly jumped out of the bed and started swinging his arms about in an attempt to strike something, suddenly the room lit up, Hax's fist was just centimeters away from Cross' muzzle, "What the hell are you doing here?" Hax questioned as he pulled his fist away. Hax might have been a hacker, but he was still on of the best fighters in the military, his fur was as black as the night itself, with the exception of the white spots that covered the end of hi muzzle and the tips of his ears along with the white mess of hair on his head that also over-lapped his left eye, his eyes also had a distinct glow to them, as they were a sky-blue color, his body wasn't over-sized, but his muscles were portioned just right, the lupine was well fit, it was clear that he trained his body on a daily basis. Hax was wearing a simple pair of black sweat-pants.
"I was just here to check if Alexia was doing alright, I wasn't expecting Mr. Psycho as well!" Cross half-yelled.
Hax sighed, "Look, I'm sorry, but next time, make sure you turn on the light unless you want a fist in your face, 'cause I'm not the only one who can fight, she's pretty mean herself." Hax pointed to light grey she-wolf, still somehow asleep even through the commotion.
"She didn't seem so mean when I talked to her earlier." Cross said.
"Trust me, the last thing you'll ever want to do is pick a fight with her, if there's a way to hurt someone, she'll find it." Hax told the dark red vulpine.
Cross decided to leave and Hax crawled back into the bed with his engaged lover, "So, what was all of that stuff about me?" Alexia asked as Hax draped his arm across the she-wolf's chest.
Hax was a bit surprised that she had heard every last word, "I...uh...love you?" Hax said in a questioning tone.
"Good answer." Alexia replied as she fell back into the depths of slumber.
Author's Note: This chapter was more about building up some personality and descriptions for the newer characters entered into the mix, and of course killing off a certain enemy. Anyway I read over my last chapter and I felt as though I wasn't descriptive enough at times, so I tried to put as much aspect of detail as I could into this chapter, remember I'm still learning so constructive criticism is welcome. Thank you all for reading and please review if you liked it or not, until the next update, later.