Starfox Evil

Chapter Four: Touchdown

…He was cold.

Fox struggled with the cable as Sang tried to keep his hold. As he looped the final knot he felt Sang shiver, then go slack slightly, "Hey wake up soldier", Fox said slapping the Corporal across the back of the head, jolting him back into consciousness, "Good, thought I'd lost you too", then he slid him into the sling, shouting up the shaft, "We're good to go!"

As the others lifted Sang to safety, Fox grasped the ladder again and deactivated the magnet, reset his shotgun, and started to climb. But after only a few moments of climbing he was stopped dead in his tracks by the most horrible scream he had ever heard. He looked back down the shaft, trying to find the source of the sound, only to see the crowd of bodies beneath him. Then one of them looked up at him.

It was Brown.

Or rather, what was left of him.

His right eye, along with all the flesh on that side of his face, was gone. His chest was torn apart, clothes in tatters. His left collarbone was broken, jutting from the skin on that side. As they made eye contact, Brown raised his left arm above his head, which on a normal person in his condition would have been impossible, pointed his hand at Fox, and let loose another blood chilling shriek.

Then he jumped, and was six feet up the ladder

"Oh shit!"

Fox turned and clambered up the ladder as fast as he could, which turned out to be pretty fast. Up top Johnson was trying to get a bead on the ex marine below. Finally, just as it seamed it would catch up to Fox, "Gotcha", he fired.

The bolt of energy caught Brown in the back just above his waist, blowing a hole in his gut and causing him to fall back down. But suddenly the twisted and mutilated marine grabbed a rung with his left hand. With a sudden jerk and a sickening snap he came to a stop, destroying whatever was left of his shoulder. And still he started climbing back up, his left arm flopping totally dead at his side. This time he was followed by several of the others below.

Fox scrambled up the last few feet and out the hole, just as Johnson slammed the hatch shut. But before it could close a blood soaked hand shot out, keeping the door open. Johnson stood on the hatch but soon it began to lurch under his feet. So Fox did the only thing he could think of. He grabbed the hand and planted his foot on the door, pressing down on it. Then he gave a powerful jerk upwards, breaking the arm. Finally he drew his combat knife and sliced through the taught flesh that was all that held the hand to the arm covered by the door. The severed flesh snapped back into the hole and the hatch slammed closed.

Fox stumbled backwards as Johnson sealed the hatch. Then he looked at the hand he was still holding. It was incased in what was left of a BPF glove, with three of the fingers torn, stripped of flesh, or missing. On the one finger that was intact, was a wedding band.

"Damn", McClain muttered, glancing up from his work of trying to stabilize Sang, who had slipped into unconsciousness, "That's Brown's ring."

Fox slipped the gold ring off the finger and into his palm. Engraved on the inside were the words, 'To my beloved David, Samantha'. Fox cursed under his breath. He slipped the ring into his pocket.

Then suddenly the hatch groaned, and the metal strained outwards. The others looked to him for orders and he gave them.

"Alright, stable or not, we have to get him out of here. I'll carry him, you all cover us", they nodded as Fox slung the injured male over his shoulders in a fireman's carry, the male's fresh bandages rapidly turning a dark red. The others took up cover positions around them. And they ran for the docking chamber. But when they got there the hatch was closed.

"ROB, open the hatch", Fox said. When nothing happened Fox slid Sang off his shoulder and propped him against one of the powerless consoles, checking his pulse. It was still going, weak, but still there. Then he tapped his COM badge, opening a direct connection to his robotic friend, "ROB! Open the Gods damned door!"

He was relieved to hear his friend answer this time, although his relief was short lived because ROB didn't have good news.

"Apologies Fox, but it appears that the station's computer thought our link was some sort of virus. It shut down the connection", Fox cursed again, this time out loud, "I am attempting to force my way back into the system. It should only take me a minute."

Fox inserted a fresh charge into his shotgun and growled, "In a minute we'll all be dead!"

Then Fox killed the link, "Gentlemen we are currently experiencing technical difficulties", he said to the surviving marines, "We are gonna have to hold this position for the next sixty seconds. Hopefully by that time the hatch should open and we can get the fuck out of here."

They all nodded and sighted their weapons at the door that lead to the maintenance hatch. Fox saw that Private Trident's aim was unsteady with fear.

Fox shuffled over to Sang to check on him and he saw that the marine had regained consciousness, "Hey soldier. How ya doin'?"

"Never better Cap'n", he said with a weak smile and a shaky salute. Suddenly there was the sound of screeching metal from beyond the airlock door. As Fox stood up Sang grabbed his wrist. He was shivering, "I'm so cold sir."

Fox kneeled down and said gently, "You just hang in there for another minute. Just one minute. Then we can get out of here."

Sang nodded then his good hand drifted down to the holster strapped to his right thigh, where he unclipped and drew the blaster, priming the charge, aiming shakily at the besieged CP door. Then he coughed, spraying blood all over the inside of his visor. Fox reached over and removed the soldier's helmet, clearing his vision.

Then Fox drew back the priming handle on his shotgun and turned, just as the door to the corridor was forced open, blood covered hands prying the two halves of the sliding door apart.

"Open up", shouted Fox.

The blaster bolts started to fly, impacting in the door, the gap , and the writhing mass of bodies beyond. Then the lights went out. The firing stopped for a moment as night vision was clicked on, and resumed once the marines could see.

When the gap had spread to ten inches, Fox fired, sending his first three bolts ripping through the air and impacting on the remains of Corporal Brown, two striking him in the chest, the third shooting over his shoulder, blowing the head apart on the ex-wolf behind him. Brown ignored the massive holes in his chest and squeezed through the gap, running forward. Fox fired again and one of his bolts severed the ex-marine's remaining hand, the second hit him in the groin, and the third one hit him just above the eyes, removing the top half of his head.

As the dead corporal's body hit the floor, what should have been obvious before was finally realized by Fox, and he shouted, "Aim high! Aim high! Shoot 'em in the head", The response was immediate, bodies started falling, heads started exploding, and the flood of freaks started to thin. When the last body fell Fox got back on the COM with ROB, "Any time now buddy! We have some breathing room."

All he got in response was static, and more groans and snarls could be heard, only from all around them this time.

Fox deactivated his link and growled. Then he turned back to Sang. His eyes were dull and his nose was dry, blood was slowly trickling from the corner of his mouth. He chuckled and mumbled, "Y'know, it's not so cold anymore."

Then the hatch groaned open. However, it didn't get very far. Falco stuck his head in, casting a shadow as he was illuminated by the overheads in the docking tunnel, and said, "Sorry for the wait guys ROB shorted a circuit or something, so I had to come over here and open her up manually", then he noticed the bodies, "Damn! Looks like I missed the party."

"Something happened to the crew", Fox glanced over to the mutilated corpse of Corporal Brown while everyone else tried to pry the hatch open far enough for McClain to get through, "And whatever it was, it spread to Corporal Brown there."

Suddenly Sang drew a loud ragged breath, drawing everyone's attention to him. As Fox came to his side he took the marines hand, "Hang on, we're not gonna lose you too."

"It's too late Cap'n", he coughed again, spraying blood onto Fox's visor, "I'm too far gone."

Then he shuddered and went limp, the light leaving his eyes. Fox leaned in and removed his glove, checking his pulse before plucking the marines dog tags from his chest and snapping them off. He dropped his gaze to the floor and sighed.

Then Sang lurched forward and snapped his jaws at him. Fox fell backwards to avoid the attack and in the same motion he drew his left leg back and kicked him in the throat. The impact knocked Sang back, but it didn't stop him. Falco stepped over, grabbed the marine and threw him against the wall. The marine slid to his knees and screamed, the same scream that Brown had made just a few minutes ago. Falco took a step back at the sound, but Fox took three forward, drew his father's CEB-6 from his tactical holster, and fired. The bolt hit Sang on the end of his short feline muzzle, destroying it and knocking him to the ground, where he lay twitching. Then he slowly started to rise again. When his head was clear he looked at Fox, and the vulpine had to admit, he looked terrifying without his muzzle, his ragged and burnt tongue hanging from the gaping, smoldering hole.

Fox steeled himself and squeezed the trigger again. This bolt caught the mutilated male right between the eyes, putting him down for good. Falco snapped out of the daze the gunfire had put him in and shouted, "What the FUCK was that!?"

Fox gave the avian a stern gaze, "The same thing that happened to everyone else", he muttered grimly, before turning to the others and saying, "Alright! Pull back to the Great Fox. I'm gonna prime the station's Nova failsafe, to make sure that whatever happened here", he glanced back to Sang's lifeless corpse, "Doesn't happen anywhere else."

The marines immediately filed out through the partially opened door. Falco stayed behind to watch Fox's back, for they could still hear more of the twisted people around. As Fox finished setting up a remote detonator he turned to Falco and gave him a thumbs up, then went over and snatched Brown's tags as well. Just as the two mercenaries stepped through the portal and into the umbilical they heard a hiss from behind them. They turned and saw a filthy creature, bipedal, wearing a dirty blue jumpsuit. It had no fur, just dirt brown skin that was cracked and extremely dry. It's eyes were solid black. It was also covered in blood. Then with startling speed it sprinted towards them.

"Shit", Fox and Falco shouted simultaneously, before forcing the door closed. They could here the thing screaming at them, beating on the hatch as they retreated down the hall.

Once they were through the airlock they both headed straight for the bridge. Upon their arrival Fox hopped the railing right into his seat, removed his helmet, and started tapping commands into his control pad that swung over in front of him. Krystal walked over to his side and asked, "What happened over there?"

As The Great Fox II disengaged from the Angel, Fox let her drift slightly before activating the engines, increasing the distance between them, then he looked up at Krystal and said, "You really don't want to know."

Once they were far enough away Fox drew the detonator from a pouch on his vest. Flicked open the guard, and pressed the red button on top. There was a flash of bright blue light and the Angel exploded, her remains falling into the atmosphere where they undoubtedly burned up.

"Slip", Fox said as he stood up to leave, "Get us out of here."

His amphibious friend had something else in mind though, "B-but Fox. While you were on the Angel, we received a return signal from one of her crewmember's emergency beacons."

Fox stopped short, "Please tell me it wasn't on the station."

"No it wasn't", Fox let out his breath in relief, "It came from the surface, in a large, underground facility."

Fox leaned against the wall and was still for a moment, before saying, "That means we've still got a job to do", he paused for a moment then, "Slip, get us into drop ship range, we go down as soon as we're close enough

Then he picked up his helmet, turned, and walked off of the bridge, quickly followed by Krystal. She reached out and touched his mind, 'Fox what is the matter with you?'

'Over on that station I had to watch two men die', he stopped and looked over his shoulder at her, 'But the horrible thing is', he turned to face her, 'they died by my hands', a single tear rolled down his cheek before he reached up to wipe it away. All that did was smear some of Sang's blood on his face.

Krystal took tentative steps towards him until she was close enough to embrace him, 'Please let me see, so I can help you.'

Fox smiled and kissed the top of her head, 'Trust me, showing you what I saw would bring untold amounts of horror and pain to your mind", Fox gently rubbed her back, "Your being here is all the help I need.'

They walked over to the lift where Fox said, "Cargo Bay."

As they made their descent Krystal leaned against Fox and sighed, not saying anything, just enjoying his presence, as people in love often do.

Slowly Fox slid his hand up to clasp her own, entwining her fingers with his. Then she turned to face him and he wrapped his other arm around her shoulders.

But, as with all good things, this moment was fleeting. The lift soon stopped and the two vulpines were forced to separate and resume their professional attitudes as they stepped off the lift to confront the Hellraisers.

All of them were going about collecting the personal effects of Corporals Brown and Sang, mourning the loss of their comrades, placing all the objects in a large pile which was topped by two pictures of the soldiers in full dress uniform. However they still snapped to attention when they saw their captain standing there. Fox stepped forward towards the collection of objects, "I didn't get a chance to know these two very well", he said before he looped both sets of tags around their respective pictures, "But I do know this", he turned to face the group of marines that had gathered behind him, "These males, they died with honor out there. They died defending their comrades."

Fox looked at each soldier gathered before him, making eye contact for a few seconds with each while he continued, "I can also tell you this. They would not want you all to stand around mourning them. If they were standing here right now they would probably slap all of you and shout 'You're marines dammit! You've got a job to do!"

"I can personally guarantee, that these two will be given a permanent place of honor, alongside the original members of Team Starfox back on Cornaria", he paused for a moment to let this settle, then finished with, "But for now, we must set aside our grief. We just received a signal from an emergency locator beacon down on the surface, indicating that one or more of the survey team that got separated from the others are still alive down there. And we are bound by the sacrifice of our comrades to extract them."

Fox walked through the crowd, which parted for him, until he stopped in front of one of the few female marines of the group, who didn't move out of the way. He gently wrapped his arms around her and whispered, "I'm sorry for your loss Samantha."

She just sobbed into his shoulder. The black and grey tabby slowly got composure of herself and stepped back, whispering, "Thank you sir, but we knew what we were getting into when we signed on", while wiping tears from her face and sniffing quietly.

"But that doesn't mean you can't mourn him", Fox reached into one of the pouches on his BPF shirt and withdrew Brown's ring, "I think he would have wanted you to have this."

She let him drop it into her shaky hand before walking quickly away to sit on her bunk and sob. Fox sighed again and turned to the others, "With the exception of Corporal Brown there and Slippy on the bridge, we'll be going down to the surface to extract the survivors. We will all be going down there. Because I believe that will provide us the greatest chance for success."

He turned to Krystal and gestured towards the door. As they stepped onto the lift he faced the marines one last time, "We are heading down in ten. So get your gear set and head to the launch bay."

There was a round of 'yes sirs' and 'aye's' as the doors closed and the lift descended to the lowest deck on The Great Fox II. On the way there Fox looked at Krystal and said, "Go and gear up for CQC Krystal. I'm heading to the launch bay to tell the pilot. Don't forget to bring something with a little bang though."

Krystal nodded as the lift slowed to a stop and they stepped into the corridor. She turned into the third door on the left and Fox continued on towards the bay, attempting, and failing to get a response on Lemming's COM badge. When he stepped into the large room he saw the team's four Arwings sitting in their alcoves, recessed into the high ceiling, and the large Mark XXI Typhoon drop ship sitting beneath them.

As Fox walked up to it he got his first really good look at the vessel. She had two decks from the look of her, and set into each wing was a ball turret, that rotated to bring the firing point to bear on a target, no matter where it was. The stub that Lemming had been working on had a shiny new plate of armor on, and it was perfectly clean. He walked the thirty feet from bow to stern and turned into the open rear hatch, which was ten feet wide, to find the pilot sleeping soundly on one of the medivac beds, a pair of music studs in his ears.

Fox slapped his forehead and groaned. He walked over to the sleeping german sheppard. Then he gently grabbed the cord for the studs and gave a yank, popping them out of the pilots ears. But still the canine didn't wake up, his level breathing actually getting on Fox's nerves. So he simply walked over to the control panel and typed in a command, which caused the medivac bed to collapse against the wall. The marine pilot gave a startled shout as he attempted to catch himself before he hit the deck plates with a dull thud, swearing loudly.

"You kiss your mother with that mouth? Tut-tut", Fox said, dropping his hand from the touch screen and ticking his finger back and forth.

"Ah, the famous Fox McCloud", Lemming said in a surprisingly deep voice, "Welcome aboard Tango 319, or as I call her, Alexandra", he finished as he stood up and brushed himself off.

Fox cleared his throat, then said, "Mr. Lemming, where is your COM badge?"

Lemming's eyes widened in horror as he realized that he had left it in the cockpit, "Oh crap."

Fox smirked as he leaned against the bulkhead, "Oh crap is right."

Lemming started to babble, trying to come up with an excuse for not having the small piece of tech on him when Fox raised his hand to silence him, "Mr. Lemming. Under normal circumstances I would follow through with what I said before. However we are going down to the surface in ten minutes, so I will forego your", he paused for a moment to read the other pilot's expression before continuing, "punishment. This time. And this time only."

The German Sheppard sighed out a, "Thank you sir."

"Don't let it happen again", Fox said as he turned to head back out to the armory to refit for this new task. He stepped out into the hall just in time to see Krystal leaving the armory, her head encased in her custom helmet with the blue visor down, her leather jumpsuit covered by a set of desert BPFs, with her staff strapped to her back. Fox expected this.

What he didn't expect was the Gatling Gun she held in her hands.

"Have I ever told you how sexy you look when you have that monster", Fox said as she drew close to him.

A soft chuckle come over her external speakers, "No. But I could tell you liked it anyway", she said tapping the side of her helmet with a gloved finger.

He shook his head and smirked. As he walked past he thought to Krystal, 'Hey! get the others situated when they arrive would you?'

She gave him a thumbs up over her shoulder in response. As Fox entered the armory he removed the shotgun from his back and dropped it onto a small table for later cleaning. Then he grabbed a treated rag from a dispenser mounted to his left and wiped the blood and gore off his own armor.

Next he selected a pair of fist sized, black fragmentation grenades and clipped them to his belt, along with a single, bright red magma grenade. Finally he grabbed a Heavy Blaster Carbine, pressed a full power cell home, snatched a few extra cells filling the remaining pouches on his belt, before placing his helmet on his head and walking back out the door. Just as the door slid closed behind him, the elevator doors parted and Private Trident came stumbling out, trying to get his LR-7 to stay attached to his back. His only other weapon was his CEB-7 that was resting in it's cross-draw holster strapped to his left hip.

"Oh, hello Sir", the white mouse said as he wrestled with his rifle while also trying not to drop his other gear, "I'm sorry I'm late but I can't seem to get my rifle to lock in place."

Fox stepped over and placed the back of his plated glove against one of the maglocks, and feeling no resistance as he pulled it away.

"Well that's your problem, you've got a faulty maglock. Wait here and I'll grab an extra."

A few minutes later both males walked into the launch bay with all gear in tact and in place. The large hanger was filled with the low thrumming sound of the Typhoon's plasmagnetic lifter plates which covered the entire underside of the craft. Fox and Private Trident stepped into the back of the transport as Fox opened a com to the pilot, "Let's Rock n' Roll!"

"Aye sir", Lemming responded, flipping on the main engine, located on the vessel's spine. Then the drop-ship lifted off the deck plates and drifted out into space. Most of the marines had taken their seats. But a few remained standing with Fox, Falco, and Krystal, watching out the windows set into the rear hatch. They all set their grips tighter as the whine of the main engines charging up could be heard right before they gave a sudden lurch forwards.

The trip down was uneventful, until Lemming came over the com, "ETA one minute Cap'n."

Fox turned to the Hellraisers, lifted his visor and shouted, "Get tactical marines! We hit the dirt in sixty seconds!"

Every one of them shook their right fists in the air and shouted, "Hoohrah", before they set about doing a final check on their weapons and gear.

Fox chuckled as he dropped his visor back into place. Then his expression grew serious behind his faceplate.

'What's wrong Fox', he felt Krystal ask him.

'I… Nothing, just pre-mission jitters I suppose', he thought to her.

Just then the pilot opened the rear hatch giving the soldiers their first view of the LZ, "No triple A, no defensive fire. But a lot of bodies moving around down there. Be careful and good luck!"

Fox activated the zoom function on his HUD and focused on the crowd. All of them were burned, broken, dirty, and they all looked mad as hell. They also looked a lot like the creature on the station. Fox sighed then opened a team-COM, "Hostile targets confirmed. Heavy weapons, up front!"

As the automatic weapons and explosives soldiers moved to the front Krystal squeezed Fox's shoulder, "See you on the ground", she said as the drop-ship began descending behind a small cluster of rock formations. Then she turned and jumped out the open hatch past all the soldiers who were standing there dumbstruck watching her flip repeatedly in her fall to the ground, before landing in a crouch, pulling the Gatling gun off her back and quickly assembling the powerful weapon.

Fox looked at them then said, "What are you waiting for? Get your asses in gear!"

They all scrambled to join their comrade on the ground. After they dropped Fox turned to the others, "Sniper team, stay on board. Captain Lemming will drop you at your designated position. The rest of you", he yanked on the charging handle for his carbine, "Let's hit it!"

Fox grinned as he jumped down to the ground, looking around for targets as he moved towards his comrades.

Then one of the heavy gunners, a wolf with his own Gatling gun, shouted, "Contact! And lots of 'em!"

His voice was followed by the sound of repeated blaster fire. As Marines pounded to the dirt they all moved in the direction of the fire, which was over a good sized hill.

As he crested the hill Fox stopped for a moment, "By the Gods."

There were hundreds of the cannibals converging on the LZ…

End Chapter Four

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