The old alarm blared. Shattered grumbled and turned it off. He had to be careful with his things, it wasn't like he could run into the nearest shop and get a new alarm clock. After silencing the noise, Shattered got up and stretched feeling the ache and pains of his job. "Rob, what is our current location?" Shattered moved to his computer, opening the file Jay had sent him.
"Currently two hours and seven minutes from target." Rob's monotone voice replied. "Increase speed?"
"No, maintain current speed. Shattered out." Shattered sighed, he had two hours to learn his target inside and out. It was more than enough time, but the thing that had him worried was the girl he had to rescue. He hadn't rescued anyone since Sauria. Shattered quickly pushed the thought out of his mind. He had a mission now, and that's all he could afford to focus on. Shattered opened the file, the hologram splitting into a few groups. One for pictures, one for background information, and one for current whereabouts and recent activities. As he skimmed over the information, Shattered constantly went back to thoughts of this mystery girl. Who was she? Other than some bounty hunter Jay had hired. What were her motives for taking the job? Was this a setup? Fox had too many questions on his mind, it was making it nearly impossible to read the file. "Computer, read out file one-oh-five-nine." Shattered rubbed his temples, grabbing a nearby chair and sitting down in it.
"Affirmative." The computer responded, it shared the same monotone that Rob had. "Processing... File one-zero-five-nine opened." As the file reopened, a projection appeared on the wall opposite of the laptop. Shattered slowly swung the chair to face it. "Target name: Unknown. Alias: Beast. Species: Lynx. Sex: Male. Age: Thirty-three." The computer quickly brought out a picture of Shattered's target, giving him a better idea of what he was up against, and what weapons and tools to use. "Weight: Unknown, believed to be of a light build. Weapons: Single blaster, Cornerian Army grade."
"Well, he really does sound like a pussycat." Shattered laughed, maybe this hit wouldn't be as difficult as he thought. "Lets hope his men give me more of a challenge."
The image quickly turned to pictures of 'Beast's' current whereabouts. "Beast and his crew have last been seen on Fortuna. They have appeared to have taken over Oikonny's base on the planet." A few more pictures slowly appeared. Shattered growled. Not only had they taken over the base it seemed that they refortified everything. Beast had what looked like thousands of guards, not to mention all the gun placements that Oikonny installed. He had seemingly no way to sneak in. "How'd the only bounty hunter get in?"
"Records indicated that the previous hunter had sneaked in via ventilation shaft. Based on Shattered's info, he is too big to fit in these shafts. Scanning for possible entry points." Shattered watched as a blueprint of the base appeared, a few rooms had been highlighted.
"How does he get all this info?" Shattered shook his head, it was something he'd have to earn the right to ask. Until then, he'd continue to work for his employer.
"Three possible entry points have been discovered. The recommended entry is located here." The computer stopped to highlight one of the top rooms. "A medium grade explosive will break through the roof. Expect two to three guards located here." Shattered smiled at the thought of action. "From here you will be four levels above the target. He is considered to be surrounded by a personal guard of fifteen soldiers. More once you break in."
"Total so far is eighteen, not that bad. I can handle this without rescuing the hostage." Shattered grinned, standing up. "I'm headed to the armory, send all necessary info to my scouter."
"Records indicate that Beast is a paranoid lynx. He has been known to kill hostages. Jay has requested that you rescue the hostage before you engage the target directly. Failure to do so will cause complete mission failure." The computer closed the file and began sending information on suggested routes and weapons to his scouter.
"So basically. I have to break in, take down a few guards, save the girl, and kill Beast." Shattered left his room, heading for the armory. "Like a walk in the park."
"Who are you? Who sent you? Why are you here?"
The female bounty hunter felt another hand against her cheek. "Doesn't matter who I am, or who sent me. I'm going to kill you." She felt the sting as she was backhanded again. She growled, wanting to rip this guy to shreds with her bare hands. She struggled against her bindings, giving credit to whoever had tied them. Both her hands and feet had been expertly tied to a chair, one that seemed outrageously uncomfortable.
"I'll ask you one last time." Her captor said in a calm voice. "Who are you, why are you here, and who sent you."
His victim laughed. "You hit like a girl." She received another hit, this time she knew it was a punch. Not the worst she had received, not that it helped the pain. She laughed harder. "Honestly I think my great-great grandmother packed more of a punch than you! C'mon at least try to hurt me."
"You.." Her captor grabbed his blaster, letting it charge before pointing it at his victim's stomach. "This has enough force to destroy your organs. You will die here! All I'm asking is three simple questions."
"OK, OK. You win." She hung her head in defeat, grinning once her bangs covered her face. "I'm your long lost cousin, your parents sent me to tell you how much of a bad boy you are. I'm here to kill-" She was cut off as the blast hit her, sending both her and the chair to a wall, smashing into it with enough force to knock her out. Once the chair hit the wall, the recoil sent her head into the wall, instantly knocking her out. The chair broke as she collapsed to the ground.
"You probably can't hear me right now. But my name is Beast, as I'm sure you know." Beast untied the ropes. "But I kept you alive for now. Something tells me I'll get my answers out of you yet." Beast holstered his weapon. Leaving his barely breathing victim lying on the floor.
"Sir! We've got a bit of information on our prisoner!" A guard shouted as he saw his commander. Beast motioned for his guard to continue. "It's not much sir, but we do have a name. Kursed."
"Kursed eh? Didn't know we had such a celebrity in our midst." Beast laughed for a few seconds before stopping. "That means whoever hired her has sent another one after me." He looked over at his guard. "Stay here, watch over her. Tell me the second she walks up. I don't want any loose end for any more bounty hunters to come get me."
"Sir, yes sir!" The guard stood at attention as Beast left. He nearly ran to his room, calling for any guards he saw to follow him.
"If Kursed is here, that means someone must know where I am. Who though? Only four people know I still live, and of those only two know my Alias." Beast sat down at his desk, pressing the button to project his voice over the entire base. "Attention. We have a bounty hunter in our lock-up. I have good reason to believe that she will not be alone for much longer. I want everyone to pull double duty. Also, the person who brings me the name of her employer will get triple times pay for the next two months!"
Shattered grabbed his old blaster, holstering it without a second thought. It has served him well during his time with Star Fox, and continued to do so after it was disbanded. He had expected it to stop working after he left. It was a stupid thought, but he believed it for a year or so. He did a quick check of his weapons. From what he remembered he wouldn't have a whole lot of time, so he tried to pack as much firepower in the few weapons he picked. One shotgun, one Machine gun, his knife and his blaster. It wasn't as much as he'd like to bring, but he only had three holsters. "Incoming message from Jay." Rob blared over the PA.
"Alright, patch him through to my scouter." Shattered waited until he saw the black outline that was Jay's face before continuing with his checklist. "I don't think I've had this honor, normally I have to call you."
"It wont happen again." Jay replied. "I just wanted to tell you that you'll have to get a move on if you still want in on this job. My other hunter is quite skilled, she could very well have broken out by now." Shattered growled. "Don't get me wrong Shattered, you're still one of my favorite Bounty Hunters. She is just better is all. Oh, she'll likely need a weapon. Just hand her one that you dont plan on using that much, and she'll make due." With that Jay disappeared. Leaving Shattered alone, and aggravated.
"If this girl is so good, then why did he make rescuing her such an importance? Might have already broken out. Well, she'll still need transportation. Beast likely destroyed her ship." Shattered quickly made his way to the command deck. "Rob how long?"
"We'll be breaking Fortuna atmosphere in thirty minutes. How do you wish to launch?" Rob asked. Shattered thought about it for a few seconds. His engines really didn't have the speed to drop him off before getting blasted out of the sky. He couldn't drop down, those defense turrets would likely rip him to pieces. "Records indicate that the Arwing would provide sufficient speed."
"No, it's too risky." Shattered continued to think. "How did that girl get down there?"
"Mission file has no recorded info on the previous bounty hunter's decent onto the planet." Shattered sighed, he was running out of ideas fast.
"Wait!" He yelled snapping his fingers. "Rob do we still have any barriers from the Aparoid Wars?"
"Affirmative. Slippy left some on the Great Fox, supplies have been transferred onto this ship. System shows five remain on board." Rob reported. Shatterd quickly went to the stock room, it was a tight fit with all the other items from the Great Fox. As soon as he had the barriers he went back to the command deck.
"Rob, alert me when it's time to jump. I'm going to parachute down using barriers. I'll need you to fly the ship over head, when you do raise shield to maximum. Take power from weapons or whatever else you need, expect life support. Just create a long enough distraction so that I don't have to use all these barriers at once."
"Affirmative. Drop zone will be reached in twenty minutes." Shattered nodded as he headed for his room. He had enough time to go over his strategy one more time. Upon reaching his room he placed his scouter on his desk and sat on his bed, going over the plan in his head. Once again, a rogue thought of Krystal entered his mind. He pushed it away, but it seemed persistent.
"Maybe once this mission is done, I can get some time off to look for her." He mumbled, with that the thought was pushed to the back of his mind. His shattered heart beat a few times at the thought. "Not that she'd want to see what I've turned into."