Starfox Evil

Chapter Thirteen: Project Alice

Alice ran down the corridor. Something was nagging at her mind. Something she had forgotten long ago. And she had no idea of what it was. The face of Albert Wesker kept popping up in her mind.

"Where have I seen him before", she thought.

She ran around a corner and saw what had to be the emergency exit. She stopped at the door long enough to load a fresh magazine into her Glock before she bolted inside. She only had to run for a few moments before she found what she was looking for. And she was shocked at what she saw.

It was a launch hanger, with some kind of ship in dock!

"What the hell?!"

From behind her she heard Wesker's voice, "Do you like what you see?"

The woman spun around and aimed her sidearm, but Wesker knocked it from her grasp, snatching that wrist in one hand and her throat in the other. Alice gagged as the man lifted her off the ground. She swung her free hand around and punched him in the face, but it did little more than turn his head slightly. The man turned his face back to her and smiled. Then he threw her into a pile of crates, sending them scattering and knocking her headset off. She sat up and glared at him, "You! You bastard! Why? What drove you to cause all of this!?"

Wesker idly inspected his fingernails as he said, "I would think you'd be more interested in why my face keeps popping up in your memories. Why I seem so familiar to you", he brushed his hand over the hole in his shirt where the bullet passed through. However there was no wound inside it. The human walked over and stood in front of her, his arms crossed, "Well don't you?"

Alice looked him over. If he had wanted to kill her he would have by then, "Okay I'll bite."

Wesker smiled, "It's quite simple Alice. I am the result of an Umbrella experiment called project Wesker. Hundreds of children were selected from all over the world to be inducted in this program. Each of them was injected with various viruses to weed out those with inferior DNA. Those that were left would be selected for continued exposure and experimentation. However nearly all of them were eliminated in the first stage of the program. The viruses were too exclusive. Only a few survived to continue", he looked over his shoulder, "It's good to see you again…sister."

There was a moment of stunned silence before Alice's headpiece crackled with static, "Alice."

Wesker looked at the device, "Ah good. Your furry little friends are coming", he cracked his neck, "Don't worry sister", he appeared in front of her and punched her in the face, knocking her out. Then he pulled out a needle and drew a sample of Alice's blood and injected himself with it. He felt a sudden clarity wash over his mind, "Ahh yes, it's only a matter of time."

The headset crackled again, "Alice? Alice respond."

Then Wesker walked over and stepped on the headset…

Fox leaned against the battered wall of the hallway and took a pained breath. His ribs flared, some of them were definitely broken. The anomaly had repaired some of the damage, but that knee to the chest after it failed rocked the vulpine hard. He grimaced and stood up, "No time for that", he grunted. Then he activated his COM, "Greer, McClain, where are you two?"

Greer's voice came back, "We fell back to the labs", suddenly there was gunfire, "Damn it! John! Bar that door! Sorry sir. There's about twenty or so guards trying to get to us. What happened?"

Fox grimaced as his ribs flared again, "No time to talk. Come back to the auditorium."

"Roger that. See you in sixty."

When the two marines came running towards their captain McClain skidded to a stop upon seeing the destroyed door and massive hole in the wall, "Whoa! What happened here", then he saw Fox, who had slumped against the wall again, "Sir! Are you alright?"

Fox nodded and stood up shaking his head slightly, "I'm fine."

Greer glanced back down the corridor at the sound of an explosion, "Wonderful, they're thru", he gently grabbed Fox's shoulder, "Orders sir?"

Fox stood up straight and quickly walked down the corridor, "This way", he grunted. Then he promptly doubled over in pain.

Greer ran up to him and grabbed his shoulders, "Jesus! Sir? Are you sure you're…"

Fox grabbed the top of his chestplate and yanked the reptile's helmet down to his level, "I said. I. Am. Fine", he shoved the marine away, "McClain!"

The stallion walked up onto his other side, "Sir?"

Fox held out his hand, "Your sidearm."

McClain nodded and unclipped the pistol, "Yessir."

Fox took the weapon and pulled the slide back, ensuring that there was a round in the chamber. When he let it go they were at the door. Fox took proper hold of the Glock and tapped his earpiece, "Alice", when she didn't respond he tapped it again, "Alice? Respond", when again no response came he grumbled, "Great", he stuck his head around the doorjamb, "C'mon."

The three of them slipped into the small antechamber, just like in the first hive. Then they stepped into the hangar.

"What the f…", McClain said under his breath.

Fox cut him off, "Stow it soldier."

And when the ship came into view he said, "I retract my previous statement. Sergeant, you may finish."

"What the fuck!?"

The vehicle was small, maybe twenty feet across, and only about ten tall. It was disk shaped, and had no external features available to the naked eye.

Greer nodded towards the vessel, "Sir, is that what I think it is?"

Fox chuckled, "It's a Typhoon Mark III shuttle prototype. Gods that thing is ancient. They gave up on that design fifty years ago! Wesker can't actually expect to fly out of here in that."

"Actually I can."

The three turned around to see the man standing there behind them, his arms coolly crossed over his chest. All three raised their weapons and fired. The man in black sighed.

As he twisted and dodged Fox growled and walked slowly towards him. As soon as the man stopped he lunged forwards. Wesker simply stuck out his hand and let Fox's abused chest slam right into his palm. The vulpine's vision flashed with color and he dropped to the floor. The marines ran forwards and launched attacks of their own. Wesker batted every one of their strikes to the side as he punched and kicked in retaliation, denting and buckling their armor wherever he hit. He punched McClain square in the chest, sending him flying, "I tire of toying with you."

To drive this point home Wesker dashed at Greer. His first strike landed right under the alligator's chin, tearing his helmet off. The second punch shattered his left collarbone. Finally he grabbed the soldier by his scaled throat and picked him up, "So pathetic."

He squeezed and Greer's eyes bugged out as his good hand latched onto Wesker's wrist. The human grabbed his other wrist and started to pull. Greer gasped and gagged in pain as suddenly Wesker gave a powerful jerk and tore the limb off. Blood sprayed from the ragged hole in torrents. Wesker threw the limb away and then crammed his hand into the wound. Greer drew a ragged breath past Wesker's hand, but to his credit as a Hellraiser he did not cry out in pain.

So Wesker pushed harder, and harder. Until finally his hand disappeared up to the wrist in Greer's chest cavity. It didn't take long for the scaled man to die. Finally Wesker tore his hand free and threw his limp body to the ground. He walked over to where Fox had dropped his coat when the human had jumped them. He chuckled as he picked the garment up off the floor, "Thank you, by the way, for returning my coat."

"Then let me give you something else."

Wesker turned at the sound of Fox's voice. The vulpine's fist crammed into the side of his face so hard he staggered backwards and fell over the railing with a shout, landing in a pile of crates and sending them scattering. Fox grunted as his momentum carried him crashing into the railing, making his ribs flare again.

"No! No time to hurt. Gotta finish this", he staggered down the stairs to the level below, pistol in hand. As he limped towards the crates he shouted, "Wesker! Come on out!"

When he was within six feet there was a massive boom and Fox's right arm disappeared from about three inches up the forearm down and his pistol went flying. Fox dropped like a sac of rocks as Wesker stepped out of the crates holding a smoking shotgun. The human's face was distinctly mangled with a massive purple and black bruise spreading thru the tissue, and two fingers on his left hand were definitely broken. He walked over to Fox and snarled, "You impudent fool! Did you really believe you could stop me!?"

Fox pushed himself backwards with his feet. With his remaining hand he shakily pulled a can of biofoam from his belt. He popped the top off and sprayed the entire contents onto the stub of his right arm, roaring as the feeling of thousands of needles jabbing into the ragged wound hit him. He coughed and shakily stood up, "C'mon. Hit me again", he said, his words slurred heavily from both pain and painkillers.

Wesker watched the off green foam drip from the wound, "Interesting. I'll have to get a sample of that once you're dead", then he tossed the shotgun up, bringing his hand up to the slide and pumping it before he jerked his hand back down to the trigger, "Speaking of which", aimed the firearm, "It's been fun playing with you my friend."

He pulled the trigger.

Click.

Wesker looked at the weapon and sighed, "Damn! Oh well. I guess we'll just have to do this the…", he gasped as suddenly he felt something new, "My my. This is new", he smiled and threw the shotgun aside.

The vulpine quirked his brow, "What the hell is he doing", he thought. Then suddenly he knew, "Get out of my head Wesker!!"

The human crossed his arms and laughed, "Your name is Fox?! What? did your parents have no imaginations? They had to name you after your species?"

Fox growled, his vision blurry, "Hey man, fuck you", his mind was fogged by the sedative in his system.

Wesker laughed harder, "Oh you are very amusing Mr. McCloud", then his laughing settled down slightly, "Oho! And what do we have here?"

Images of his night with Krystal flashed thru Fox's mind, which cleared up a little as embarrassment set in, "Hey! Get out of there!"

Wesker chuckled and rubbed his temple, "My oh my Mr. McCloud. You are one dirty person. Considering the fact you've only been fucking her for a day, one wouldn't think she'd be open to bondage so fast", then he narrowed his eyes, as if looking closely at something, "I will admit though, she is a pretty one."

Suddenly in Fox's mind came Krystal's voice, "Fox? What's going on? Are you alright?"

Wesker arched his brow, "Hmm, now that's interesting. She's like this too", he smiled cruelly.

Fox's blurry vision started to come into focus, "No. Nonono!"

Wesker's smile widened…

Up on the Great Fox II…

Krystal was sitting in what was now her and Fox's quarters, wearing a pair of Fox's boxers and a large t-shirt. She sighed, lounging on the bed, so relieved to get out of the recovery room. She rubbed her hands over her stomach.

"Mmm, Fox better have some energy left when he gets back", she mumbled to herself as her hands wandered down over her thighs and the area between them. She glanced over at the pair of silk ribbons that sat on the bedstand from that first night and she smiled.

Suddenly a lance of extreme pain flashed thru her mind and all pleasant thoughts disappeared. She sat up and furrowed her brow, "That's not good", she said. Then she closed her eyes and focused, reaching out with her mind. It took a moment, but she finally reached Fox's mind.

"Fox? What's going on? Are you alright?"

Instead of Fox she heard an unfamiliar voice, "Hmm, now that's interesting. She's like this too."

Then she heard Fox shout, "No! Nonono!"

Before she could even think Krystal suddenly felt as though somebody had just dumped napalm into her mind. She clutched her temples and screamed at the top of her lungs…

In the hive…

McClain sat up slowly and shook his head, "Good God that guy can swing", then he saw Greer, "Aw man."

He limped over to the body and growled as he snapped the dead soldier's tags off, "I'm sorry buddy", From his left he heard a quiet groan. Looking over he saw Alice lying propped against some crates. The stallion limped over to her as well, "Hey are you alright?"

Her eyes flickered open, "Ow. What happened?"

McClain took her hand and gingerly hauled her to her feet, "I'm guessing Wesker did a number on you too."

Suddenly they heard Fox shout, "No! Nonono!"

They shot each other a quick glance before taking off towards the disturbance, the equine limping heavily. Suddenly in their minds, they could hear a female screaming in pain.

"Ah! Jesus", McClain shouted, "What the hell?!!"

They both stumbled against the railing and looked down to see Wesker, laughing like a maniac, with Fox laying on his back, clutching his head with one hand and sobbing, "Please! No more!"

McClain gawked, "By the Gods! I've never heard of somebody actually making him beg before."

Wesker just laughed as Fox continued, "Please, stop. You're killing her!"

Then it dawned on the equine soldier, "Krystal."

Alice looked at him, "Who?"

"His fiancée Krystal. She's a telepath", McClain said before wincing, "I'd bet you a million creds that this is her voice we're hearing. I don't know how, but Wesker is tearing her mind apart."

Fox continued to plead, "Stop it. Stop it please", but that pleading turned into shouting when that voice in their minds started to grow weak, "Stop it! STOP IT!! I. Said. STOP IT!!!!!"

The vulpine jumped to his feet and that's when Alice and John saw his arm, "Oh my God", the human muttered.

McClain then looked at the ship, "C'mon. We should head for that. If the captain wins then we can use it to escape."

"And if he doesn't?"

John gulped, "Then at least we can leave Wesker to burn."

As they slipped away Fox snarled and swung his leg out behind him, roaring, "Raaahh!!! I'm going to rip your fucking heart out!!!"

Wesker blinked and took a step back, "How the?!"

Fox lunged forwards, slamming his fist into Wesker's throat. The demented man fell backwards and clutched at his neck with his good hand. Fox grabbed his bad hand and squeezed, crushing the broken bones into unrecognizable fragments. Then he threw the man by that hand and stormed after him. The human grabbed his destroyed hand and stared at it in disbelief. Then he looked back up at Fox, "How the hell are you doing this?! You shouldn't be able to breathe with your ribs broken like that, let alone move!"

Fox growled as he furiously stormed towards him, "I don't care if every bone in my fucking body is shattered! You just made this personal by hurting her! You are going to die here and now!!"

Wesker backed up some more, "Ah! But there's one thing I forgot to mention", he shot his hand down into his pant's pocket and pulled out a remote. He depressed the single button and suddenly alarms began to blare, "I have just activated this facility's failsafe, a thirty kiloton nuclear warhead. You now have two minutes. You can either choose to kill me for hurting her. On the other hand, you can choose to let me live and see her again. It is up to you. But choose quickly, you only have time to do one."

He then turned and ran towards the ship, with Fox hot on his heels, "You also forgot this Wesker", and he grabbed the back of the coat and yanked hard. Wesker flew back into the elbow that Fox spun around to connect with his head, which splattered the vulpine's blood all over the side of his head, "I can just kill you and take the ship."

He wrapped his arm around the human's neck, grabbing his shoulder to keep him in place. However, Wesker simply jammed his fingers into Fox's ravaged elbow. The vulpine roared and threw him away. When Wesker landed he grimaced as he focused on his hand. The limb was simply hanging limp on the end of his arm. There was a nauseating grinding sound before there was a loud SNAP, and Wesker clenched his fist. He chuckled and muttered, "Thank you PG67A/W."

Fox completely ignored him though. He ran at him again, his remaining fist pulled back to strike. Wesker dodged it and hit Fox in the center of his chest. The vulpine felt his sternum crack, but it didn't break so he kept going. His fist connected with Wesker's jaw again. The human staggered back and clutched his face, "Damn it!"

Fox drew in a ragged breath and gagged as the pain almost made him vomit. But he choked it down, he couldn't afford that now. He ran forward, throwing his fist out again. But Wesker caught it, clenching his fingers down on his hand. Then the human drove his booted foot into Fox's right knee, shattering the joint. The vulpine dropped quickly. Then he slowly got up on his good leg. Wesker turned his back, "I see no point in killing you myself. All it will do is get more blood on me. You'll die in the explosion anyway."

Fox roared and lurched forwards, just to land flat on his face. He coughed blood as his sternum finally split and his ribs caved, "No", he wheezed, his hand outstretched.

As he started to walk away Wesker laughed, "Don't feel too bad. I think I'll go pick up your little friend before I go", he shot Fox a filthy look, "I could always use a good pet."

Fox's eyes shot wide and he snarled, "You stay hell away from her!"

The human laughed loud, "You are in no position to order anything", he waved over his shoulder, "Goodbye Mr. McCloud."

Tears welled up in Fox's eyes, "No. I can't", he climbed to his knees, "I can't fail", he watched his tears drop to the floor below his face, "I can't."

One tear dropped.

It splashed silver.

He growled and staggered to his feet, "I won't let you!"

Wesker stopped and turned around, "You just won't take a hint will you?"

Fox's eyes snapped up to meet his, "I won't let you!!!"

Wesker's eyes widened as he saw the liquid metal running from Fox's eyes, and dripping from his numerous wounds, each drop that hit the floor made a solid thunk! Before lifting up into the air. Suddenly a massive torrent exploded out of the stump that had been his right hand, defying gravity by turning into numerous narrow streams that orbited and spiraled around his body. The vulpine took one step and his knee buckled. But he kicked his other leg out front to stop him from falling. Then he gave his bad leg a kick and his knee gave a disgusting crunch. He looked at Wesker, but said nothing. He took another step and this time his knee did not give. Then the metal collected at the end of his arm and slowly formed a hand. Fox looked at it and flexed the gleaming fingers. Then he quickened his pace towards his enemy.

Wesker quirked his brow and checked his watch, "Sixty seconds Mr. McCloud. Do you think you can kill me in a minute?"

Fox shrugged, "Even if I can't, Krystal will understand", he gave a menacing step forwards, more silver running from his eyes, "Sometimes sacrifices must be made to do what's right."

Wesker's eyes widened. Fox threw himself at the human. Wesker jerked to the side as Fox's fist nearly tore his head off. However, he then found himself on the receiving end of arguably the deadliest sidekick in the Lylatian Empire. As the man fell to the ground Fox sliced his heel down to the ground, using the resulting momentum to spin his body, swing his leg back up in the air, and bring his boot crashing down into Wesker's gut. The human felt the air rush out of his lungs as he shoved the leg off and rolled away. He jumped up onto his feet and started to dash and dodge, making sure that Fox couldn't hit him. Suddenly an automated voice snapped over the intercom, "Attention! Fifteen seconds to launch!"

This distracted Fox for a moment, but that moment was all Wesker needed. He thrust punched Fox in the chest, knocking him down. Then he turned and sprinted for the ship. As he ran past crates he glanced over his shoulder, and he saw Fox was hot on his heels. As he turned around the massive armored fist of John McClain met his face, and his feet flew out from under him. He landed flat on his back and groaned. John stepped out from behind a box and shook his hand, "Holy crap that hurt!"

Fox stopped when he was standing over Wesker, "You two, on the ship!"

"What about you", Alice asked.

Fox looked down at Wesker. Then he pointed his gleaming hand at him. His eyes rolled back in his head and he let out a sort of low, gurgling growl. Suddenly his metal hand exploded out. The flood of fluid seemed endless as it flooded over the human's torso. The metal hardened and constricted, binding Wesker's movement. When he was finally immobile Fox said, "I'm with…"

Then he promptly fell over as blood surged from his stump, and his tears were now blood. Alice jumped forwards and grabbed him, "Fox! Good God! John help me!"

McClain scooped his comrade up, "C'mon! Haul ass!"

The two then ran. As they neared the vessel they could hear the whine of engines warming up. They bolted up to the vessel and Alice said, "Well how do we get in?!"

Fox said wearily, "Access…control."

Suddenly a ramp lowered. Horse and human looked at each other for only a moment before they ran up into the vessel. McClain saw a single chair in front of a simple panel of analog controls, "What now sir?"

Fox weakly pulled himself down into the chair, "Hold on tight", he mumbled.

McClain and Alice looked at each other, "To what?!"

Fox flipped a few switches and said, "Never mind."

The two soldiers were immediately blown back, slamming into the wall behind them.

On the ground Wesker struggled against his bonds, growling as he strained against the metal. Then he heard the whine in the air get louder. He snapped his head towards the ship and shouted, "NOOOO!!!"

The vessel launched up the tube.

Three seconds later, Wesker was consumed in nuclear fire.

The shuttle blasted out of the open launch door, mowing down the dozens of zombies that had shuffled into the launch tube. The vessel ripped out into the air and leveled off at about a thousand feet. Suddenly it was rocked by the shockwave from the explosion behind them. Alice and John climbed to their feet and the horse staggered over to Fox, who had slumped down in his seat. The vulpine coughed, "I should teach you something about flying John. I might not be here long enough to dock this thing."

The marine shook his head, "Nonono. Don't think like that sir! There's a reason I joined the Core. I can't even fly a car, let alone a ship. That's why I drive an old ground model", then he looked his captain over, "Right", he pulled out a can of bio foam and emptied it on Fox's stump.

Fox chuckled, "John, no amount of bio-foam can save me now."

Suddenly in their minds they heard Krystal say, "Don't you dare think like that Fox! As your future wife I forbid you from dieing and leaving me like this!"

Fox's eyes widened slightly, "Krystal? I thought…"

The female chuckled, "What? Wesker may have been strong, but he didn't have a lifetime of experience with telepathy. All he did was give me a migraine."

Fox sighed, "That's good", then he slumped in his seat, "So tired", he shook his head though and reached towards the control panel. Pressing a button he said, "Set autopilot", he then entered the Great Fox II's coordinates. When he finally relaxed he said to John, "COM Slippy. Tell him we'll be back shortly, and to prepare sickbay ."

The equine nodded and opened a channel, "Come in Great Fox."

Slippy's face popped up on his HUD, "Whassup?"

John glanced at Fox, who had gone limp in his chair, "We're on our way back. Get sickbay ready. The captain got messed up real bad."

Slippy nodded, a serious and worried look on his face, "Gotcha. We'll be waitin' for ya!"

Up on the Great Fox

Slippy, ROB, and the queens had been helping coordinate the shuttle runs. In the half hour or so that Fox and his team had been gone roughly two thousand humans had been rounded up.

"Angel 425 returning with cargo. Twenty-two total."

Slippy keyed the COM, "Roger that Angel 425. Please hold in queue", then he switched channels, "Tranquility. What is your status?"

The head medical technician popped up on the display, "We're falling behind. We've only got four hazmat teams, remember?"

Slippy sighed. Looking at the calico female he said, "Alright. Keep me posted."

Then another channel kicked open, "Come in Great Fox."

Sergeant McClain's face appeared on the holo-grid. Slippy nodded to him, "Whassup?"

McClain's eyes shifted off to the side, "We're on our way back. Get sickbay ready. The captain got messed up real bad."

Worry flashed across Slippy's mind, "Gotcha. We'll be waitin' for ya", then he killed the link. Turning to ROB he said, "Get the marine medics ready."

The android said, "Corporal Steel's shuttle just docked with the Tranquility. However Corporal Augustine's has not returned from the surface."

Slippy rolled his large eyes, "Fine. Get Doc over here and redirect Geek's shuttle to dock here first when they come back up."

The android nodded his faceless head, "Affirmative."

The Red Queen suddenly spoke up, "Slippy! We have a problem!"

She depressed a flashing node and one of the shuttle pilots popped into view.

"Mayday! Mayday! This is Tango 212! We have experienced terminal engine failure and are going down!"

Slippy opened a COM, "Pilot where are you?"

The feline said, "Grid 44235", he looked around quickly, "I see buildings! Lots of bigass buildings!"

The pilot paused long enough to flick a switch and shout over the inter-COM, "Everybody hang on! This is gonna be rough!"

Suddenly there was a massive lurch and the pilot lurched forwards. The last thing Slippy saw was the leopard's spotted forehead slamming into the camera. The toad gulped and said, "Red? Where is grid 44235?"

The AI paused, as if in reluctance, "Grid 44235 was known as New York City."

Slippy rubbed his chin, "What was the…"

The Silver Queen responded, "The last population count totaled at 20,000,000. Give or take."

Slippy was silent for a moment, "Do we have any other shuttles in the area?"

At the AI programs' silence he slammed his green fist down on the console, "Damn!"

Suddenly the channel opened back up. They could see the pilot was dead, what with his helmet split, half his head caved in. However the co-pilot stepped into view, "Sir?!"

Slippy leaned closer to the image, "Are you alright soldier?"

The bear winced and grabbed his left arm, "I-I think my arm is busted."

Slippy nodded, "How're the humans?"

The soldier shook his head, "I don't know. We crashed thru some pretty big buildings", he groaned and looked out the cockpit windows, "We've wound up inside another building, looks like a grocery store", he shook his head and rubbed his temple, "Uh…the hatch is jammed, I can't get out", the pilot pressed a switch and the face of William Trident popped into view, "How're the humans?"

The rodent soldier shook his head, "Not good. About half died in the crash. Almost all of the others have serious to life threatening wounds", he paused for a second, "None of the medics made it."

Suddenly an alarm started blaring. The co-pilot gulped, "Uh-oh!"

Slippy said, "What's happening?"

The pilot let go of his broken arm and started tapping controls, "We've got incoming! Good God! The numbers are off the charts! They're having some trouble getting through all the debris, but we don't have much time!"

Slippy barked, "Red! Silver! Get a hold of any shuttles that we have available! We need to get them out of there!"

End Chapter Thirteen

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