Everyone sat on the bridge of the Matchitehew that morning, I could still feel the tension between the two wolves. I would just glare at them, and they wouldn't do anything, just minded their own business.
I looked at Krystal, and her left eye was all black now, even with the fur, it was black. It made me angry, my beautiful girl, with a black eye. I wanted to kick Wolf's and Adrian's asses, but I already did.
I glanced at my watch, waiting for the ten minute mark to strike. "Five. Four. Three. Two. One." BANG! Everyone flinched and began to looking around, the three forgot about the noise, while the two newbie's were scared as all shit. "Your ship falling to shit?" Fara asked, looking around.
I just slowly turned to face her, a grim look on my face. "No. It's just an affect to scare the daylights out of you." Fara just looked at me, a scared look remained on her face. I just smiled and laughed, somewhat evilly.
"Hey, Krieger. Someone is trying to call us." "Well, answer the bitch already." Ryan was able to allow the call through after a few pushes of buttons.
"Hello? Krieger? You there?" The voice was none other than Cyrus. "Yep. We're here. We're ready to leave." "Oh good. We are leaving now." The transmission was terminated, only leaving me to stare at Adrian, who was at the Navigational station.
"Well, Adrian. Do the honors once again." Adrian turned back towards his console, trying to remember what to do. After a few moments, the speed indicator began to rise. He just leaned back into his chair, staring out into space.
Just as the Matchitehew began to move, the Allmachtiger was passing it on its left. We stared at the view screen, the size of the bigger ship. It was going to suck if and when I had to attack that ship. I had full confidence in my ship, I would never with the Great Fox.
"Ryan. Do a scan on the ship. I want to see what we are up against." Ryan turned towards his Radar station, beginning to do scans on the ship. He set up individual scans for weapons, shielding, engines, etc… Each scan would take about ten minutes each, due to the large size.
I walked over to Adrian, looking at the speed indicator, we were at about two thirds velocity. Which was about one hundred and forty six meters per second, the top speed for the Allmachtiger. That was a plus, my ship was faster.
The alarms began to go off, chills were sent down everyone's spines. I just looked at the ceiling, wondering why the alarms were going off. "Computer. Why did you turn on the alarm system?"
"Close-proximity vessel, Allmachtiger, beginning to stir up warp drive. Should I activate NOS system and follow?" No one ever heard the computer before, it was a woman's voice, with an odd accent. Not like Krystal's, who's was British, it was more Russian.
"Affirmative. When the Allmachtiger enters warp space, activate the NOS drive and match their speed." "Of course, Krieger." "Thank you, Natasha." I looked back down and saw everyone staring at me, confused that I had named my computer Natasha. Well, except for Krystal, who remembered ROB.
"What the fuck you all staring at? Go fuck yourselves. I'll be in the mess hall. Kursed. Come." I said, ordering Krystal to follow me, still feeling everyone's eyes upon me.
"You know. Some food would go great right now." Ryan said, pushing himself out of his chair, running to catch up with me. Fay quickly followed the husky, leaving Adrian and Wolf by themselves, with Fara and Miyu. "Don't you fucking dare fight each other!"
They looked around, hearing the voice inside their heads, Adrian knew it was me. Wolf was still confused. "Who the fuck just talked to me?" "Krieger. He's a telepath."
Wolf quickly turned his head towards Adrian, who just continued to stare at the door, that allowed you to exit the bridge. Fara stared as well, then looked Wolf, who shared the glance back towards her.
I sat at a table, surrounded by Krystal, Ryan and Fay, as I just loaded my stomach with some damn good breakfast. Though, I had to make it, it was still some damn good eggs.
"You okay?" I looked up, wondering why Krystal would ask that kind of question. "Why you asking?" "We're on our way to Sector Z, where the Great Fox rest." I lowered my head, staring at my food, then turned my head to look at her. All I did was nod.
Everyone looked at the door opening, revealing Adrian and Miyu. I looked at the arctic wolf, his face all cut up from being thrown into a window, just a harsh lesson from starting a fight which hurt Krystal.
They took a seat next to the husky and spaniel, and began to steal off of his plate. "What the fuck? Get your own food." "Too lazy. Just share some of your sausage." "Go fuck yourself. This is my fucking food."
"Cooper." Everyone turned to stare at me, as I just slowly raised my head, but everyone couldn't tell if I was staring at them due to that I was wearing my sunglasses like usual. "Do you always have to say fuck in everyone fucking sentence you fucking say?"
"Of course I fucking do. Makes me feel tough." After Ryan complete his sentence, Fay decided it be fun to push him backwards into his chair, causing him to lean back and crash to the floor.
He laid there confused, and looking up at Fay, who was smiling and giggling at him. "You don't seem too tough." I said, chuckling a little as I went back to eating my eggs.
"What the fuck? Why the fuck would you fucking do that? Now you fucking made me look like a fucking retard!" Ryan said, getting back up and yelling Fay, who continued to laugh at him. "Thank you for teaching us the many ways of using fuck in a sentence, Ryan." Adrian said, causing everyone to laugh again.
I just sat there and ate, but a laugh stood out. Krystal's. I always loved her laugh. Her laugh hasn't changed ever since our reunion with Tricky after the Aparoid attack on Sauria. Her laugh, along with everyone else's, stopped when Wolf and Fara entered the mess hall.
They didn't stop at the table, they went straight for the kitchen. I just sat there, watching the couple disappear behind the doors, only to hear a loud crash as everyone fell out of there chairs and onto the ground. I stayed in my seat, along with Krystal, as we were prepared for what was coming. We just entered NOS drive.
Everyone saw us sitting at the table still, in fact, our trays never moved from where they were sitting a moment ago, if anything, they moved a couple inches. "Damnit. Can you at least warn us when that happens? At least, can you change that so we don't fall out of our chairs when we jump?" Ryan said, climbing back into his chair after the second time of falling to the ground.
"Why? Kursed is beginning to learn." "That's probably because you were holding onto her." "No. I was just sitting here." She retorted back, taking a sip of her coffee. "What the fuck just happened?" Wolf said, coming out of the kitchen.
"We just entered NOS drive." I answered, eating my eggs still, savoring the flavor. I never knew I was such a good cook. "God damnit. Warn us next time your ship does that. Son of a bitch." I just shook my head. "No."
Hours went by, six to be exact, before we finally came within distance of Sector Z. The ship slowed to normal propulsion, allowing us to look at normal space again. In the distance, the familiar nebula of orange gas, that somehow, but amazingly made its shape into a giant Z.
This was where The Great Fox was ambushed during the Lylat War. The ship took a direct hit from a missile strike, destroying the top left wing. Luckily, further damage was prevented after that. We were lucky to continue our run towards Venom.
Speaking of the Great Fox, there it sat in the middle of destroyed ships and platforms from Area Six. I shook my head at the view screen, seeing my old ship sitting amongst a bunch of trash, used as headquarters.
The Matchitehew flew parallel with the Allmachtiger, traveling at maximum speed for the larger ship. I was able to make out ships flying patrol around the base, scout and guard ships. All half or two-thirds the size of my ship.
We arrived in the docking bay of the Great Fox, after flying in the Cobalt, I immediately saw the rust buildup all over the place. I had mixed feelings, but I was just mad that my father's ship, was in enemy's hands.
"Welcome to my base of operations." Lector said, walking out of his personal drop ship, the Blaze. "Make yourselves at home for the time being. My assistant is on his from Corneria as we speak. He'll be here in twenty minutes or so."
I gave him a nod of approval, as I began to retrace everything I longed to protect, actually, now that I think about it. The original was destroyed. I made this to look similar to the Great Fox design during the Lylat War, but I made some mods with newer technology that I used from the refitted design. If anything, it was a hybrid between the original model during the Lylat War, and the refitted model during the Aparoid Invasion.
My mind somehow started wandering through Wolf's, he was very upset right now. How he was standing in his old rival's flagship. He couldn't believe it. He never thought he see this ship in this position. He was thinking just like me.
"Who's the assistant do you think?" Krystal said to me, getting close to me and whispered in my left ear. I shook my head. "I don't know, but I don't like it." I looked around, scanning my left and my right. "Excuse me for a sec."
I walked away from Krystal, and picked up my phone and began to talk to it. I could tell she was trying to find out who I was talking to and what I was saying, but I blocked myself so hard, it gave her a headache.
I closed my phone a moment later and reproached her. "Nice try." I smirked and leaned in to kiss her. "Dick. You didn't have to put up that harsh of a block." "Yes I did."
We headed for Cyrus' office after we heard an announcement over the PA system telling us to. Guards looked at us, giving us odd looks, but I just glared them off, trying to intimidate them. Effective for the most part.
I pushed open the door and I saw Lector standing next to his desk, well behind his desk, next to his chair. The chair was spun around, but rocking. Someone was in it, probably the assistant. Tension filled the air.
"Mr. Aurelius. I like you to meet my assistant from Corneria. Actually, he's being serving me as my mole in the Cornerian Army and has proved very successful. And he's just enlightened me with some excellent information. I believe you two have met. Actually, all of you have."
I just stared at him, wide-eyed. Nausea filled everyone's stomach, my heart stopped when the chair spun around, revealing a very familiar person indeed. The traitorous bastard.
I stared evil-eyed at the bull, as he just smiled at me, more of a large grin if anything. "Well, Krieger. It's so good to see you again." "Marcos you damn fool, what were you thinking? You fucking insane?" I said, yelling at him, my eyes turning red.
"Now, calm down, Mr. Aurelius…Or should I say…Mr. McCloud. Mr.….Fox McCloud." I snarled at him, I was ready to deck him. I didn't bother to look around, I knew everyone was shocked, especially Wolf.
"And Miss Kursed. Much different from Krystal I must say." Krystal gasped as she covered her mouth with her paw. "Answer my fucking question. Why did you deceive me?" I asked, my voice so deep and almost like a growl. My voice sent chills through everyone's body, but Cyrus and Marcos remained strong.
"You see, I couldn't deny the wonderful offer I was given. Rule second in command of Corneria when we had taken it over. It all seemed so wonderful." I pulled my revolver and aimed it at him, seconds before anyone realized…'oh shit. He's holding a gun.'
"Fox. Fox. Calm down now. You don't want to get shot now, do ya?" "I have been shot twelve times. What's one more?" A plasma round sounded the air, hitting me in the torso, just where my liver would be.
To everyone's amazement, I never flinched, I just stood there, aiming my weapon at Marcos, the green laser pointing directly between his eyes. When I looked to my right, I saw Cyrus was the one who fired the round at me, as smoke bellowed out of the chamber.
The smell of burning flesh and fur filled the air, still not distracting me in anyway. Both stood at amazement, blood dripped from the wound, but it didn't bother me.
"You think that would kill me? Being betrayed by two women is what kills you." "Fox. Just lower the weapon. One of us isn't getting out of this room alive." I began to fumble with something in my free hand.
"You know what, Marcos? You're right." I said, quickly firing a bullet right through his head, but before I could bring my arm over to aim at Cyrus, he had fired another round. This time, at my head, the left side of my face.
I recoiled in pain, as I pushed the button of the remote in my hand. "Now!" As soon as I released the button, we began to dematerialize, all eight of us. We were being teleported out of there.
As we found ourselves back on the bridge of the Matchitehew, I looked through the view screen, seeing an explosion occurring on the Great Fox and on the Allmachtiger. The Great Fox, nearly exploding it, but it caused the destruction of the Cobalt, which made Adrian mad.
On the Allmachtiger, the explosion crippled part of the engine systems on the system. Taking out forty percent of its propulsion system, along with its jump drive, but everything around us was firing everything they had at us.
I ran to the center console, half my face was burning from the plasma shot, no one had gotten a good look at me yet, but Krystal immediately ran up to me, looking at my face.
The only thing she could see, was metal. Most of my skull was metal. The plasma wasn't able to penetrate it. It just burned away the flesh and fur.
I engaged the NOS drive, as I could hear the engines spooling up as fast as they could, but we were in a hurry. The hull integrity was dropping, along with the shields. I made a desperate attempt and engaged the drive early.
The ship left the scene in a matter of seconds, but we just don't know if we'll make it out of the drive space alive. (Of course we did. Otherwise the story would be over, wouldn't it?)
The blackness of space soon was covered up by a stream of white light, as it drifted to a crawling pace after coming out of drive space. The Matchitehew, disabled after its premature NOS jump from a quick, but lucky escape.
The hull integrity, dropped substantially after taking a beating from the Allmachtiger and other patrolling ships. Oddly though, the shields were still sitting at sixty-two percent. Some of those shots penetrated the shield and impacted the hull.
Fire bellowed through the halls and escaping out through breaches in the hull, escaping out into the vacuum of space. The alarms blared everywhere, the fire-alarm system shutoff after the attack, that crimpled the Matchitehew.
Everyone laid still on the bridge of the smoking ship, some breathed lightly, some normally. Luckily for all of them, they all were still alive. As for their location, the planet in front of them grew larger as every minute ticked by. Natasha couldn't do anything without proper orders. Orders from me.
Eyes slowly began to flutter open, one of a familiar husky. Ryan coughed as he looked around, the lights flickering on and off, several of them had shattered, shooting sparks in all directions after the lights discharged.
The view screen in front of them was cracked, but still operational, but just barely. He looked around to try and find his friends and his one love. That was when he did a double take and looked back at the screen.
He found himself still next to his terminal, but he had fallen to the floor. He looked around for me, but I was tossed from the center console and I had crashed into the screen, that is why it cracked.
Smoke still bellowed from my burning face, but Ryan's main concern was to wake me up. He limped towards me, figuring his left leg must be broken or fractured. He suffered the pain.
He collapsed next to me, shaking me violently to wake up, took him a couple minutes to finally to wake me up. At this time, the Matchitehew was a minute away from entering the atmosphere of this unknown planet.
I grimaced in pain, as I grabbed the wound from the plasma round that I endured minutes earlier. I looked up and saw Ryan, speaking to me, but my ears were ringing and I couldn't hear him, at least for fifteen seconds.
"What?" "Krieger. The ship is on a direct path to the planet in front of us, we won't survive the crash!" I tried to turn around, as Ryan was able to help me on my other side. My eyes shot wide open.
I struggled to get up, luckily Ryan had enough strength for the both of us, even though at least half my body was metal. I walked over to the center console, but it was offline. "Natasha. Adjust ship for geo-synchronize orbit."
"Engines offline. Requires more power to re-activate engines." "Route power from weapons, sensors and shields over to engines." A few confirming beeps were heard, but then heard a deep tone. "More power required for engines." "Shit!….Route life-support systems over to engines."
The Matchitehew was now flying through the atmosphere, the intense heat began to burn the hull as the shield was now down. Fires began to intensify throughout the ship, but finally the heat started to subside as the ship past though.
With a loud and powerful sonic boom, the engines fired with over one hundred and twenty percent of power. Though, hopefully it was enough to save our asses, hopefully there was enough air on the ship to save us for the time being. Life support was shutoff.
I could feel the ship starting to level itself out, but the altimeter was decreasing awfully fast. As I looked at the screen, I could a forested region, a jungle to be exact, when I saw the land below us, the ship was just over fifty thousand feet and the ship was at a forty-five degree angle downward.
The ship was doing its best to raise itself, but it seemed time was running out. I just closed my good eye, natural-instinct, and waited for the ship to crash.
The ground was ten thousand feet now and the ship was just below level. Still waiting, I still feared the worst. The ship now two thousand feet above ground, the ship was above a twenty degree angle.
Though, through my implant, I saw that the ship was facing the sky, I already had a moment to response. "Natasha! Afterburners NOW!" "Affirmative."
Almost instantly, the engines released a large white-hot flame escaping out the rear of the engines. The power produced enough thrust could power up three metropolitan cities.
Animal creatures stopped to look at the fast approaching ship, only to realize that would be the last thing they see. The flame escaped the engines and fired the short distance between the ship and the surface, only three hundred feet.
Plant and animal life instantly burned away as the engines tried to stop the rate of descent and hopefully start pushing the ship back towards the sky. In the distance, you would see a giant ship, shooting out a flame hot enough to melt the ship itself.
The path of destruction it left behind was nothing, but a straight line of dead, burned away trees, the animals disintegrated from the intense heat. I continued to stand there, waiting, praying to whatever God that may help us. My prays were answered.
Ryan looked at the altimeter, hypnotized by it. He started to smile when he saw that our distance from the ground started increasing, he looked out the side windows and saw that we were beating the planet's gravity and we were escaping back into space.
Time went by long enough, before I finally opened my one closed eye, and saw that we were indeed climbing. I let out a sigh of relief. "Natasha. Activate rear-view camera."
In a instant, the screen flickered and we were looking out the rear of the ship. You could see the green land look more and more like a green carpet below us, the thing that stood out most, was the black line that was as straight as a pencil, that stretched over three miles.
Finally, everything turned dark, stars was the most beautiful thing I could ever ask to see. "Natasha. Return ship back to normal after completing geo-synchronize orbit." An affirmative beeping tone told me that Natasha would do so.
I looked around and I saw Ryan hovering over Fay, trying to wake her up. I scanned the bridge, seeing Krystal was over by the computer panels controlling radar. I hobbled over to her, hoping she was okay.
I fell to my knees, placing my hand upon her neck, pulsing. I leaned in to kiss her on the side of her muzzle, only to back away when I felt a stir. I stared at her, as I could see her eyes starting to flutter open, finally coughing.
She turned her head to look up at me, only to see me crying. They were tears of joy, seeing that we were okay, and she was safe. I embraced her in my arms, kissing her cheek every few seconds, then nuzzled my cheek against hers.
"I love you so much." I said, sobbing making it a touch difficult to hear what I was saying. "I love you too." She said, turning to kiss me on my lips, only for me to return the favor.
An hour had gone by, the Matchitehew drifted around the unknown planet in a perfect orbit. Everyone was awake and were aware of the close call we almost had. If Ryan hadn't waken up, I wouldn't have, meaning the ship would've crashed. None of us would be here to laugh at the second near-death experience in a matter of minutes.
Krystal tended my wounds, especially my face, which was exposing half of the metal skull protecting the burnt bone beneath. I looked and saw Wolf and Fara staring at us, an angry look across their muzzles.
"This entire time…..you end up being my archrival and former partner. You bastards." "Go fuck yourself. Get over it." "Get over it? How the fuck am I suppose to get over this shit?"
I gently pushed Krystal away from me, as I walked over to Wolf, only to see him to try to stand equally with me, I beat him by an inch, as we stared at each other, toe to toe.
"I know you got respect for me in there somewhere. I can feel it. I know that you're even happier knowing that I killed Panther for you. Now you better ease up out of my face, so we can take down this fucker, who almost just killed us, or I'm gonna make you ease up."
Wolf just stared at me, not making any noise except for his breathing, he finally backed away, so return to his love, who just stared at me….in fear and hatred. "Hate me all you want, but you better fear me for now, Fara."
The fennec just looked away, only to stare at Wolf, who stared back. "Krystal?" I didn't turn away from the two StarWolf members, as my maroon vixen approached me, looking at my face, only to see blood dripping out of my facial wound, covering the shiny metal which red liquid.
"Take some heat. And cauterize these wounds, so they can stop the bleeding." "What? You sure?" "It's okay." I said nodding as I turned to look at her. "What should I use?" I reached into my pocket, and pulled out a Zippo lighter.
"Go ahead. Make sure everything seals up." Krystal took the lighter, and stared at me as I was trying to prepare myself for the pain I was about to endure.
Everyone was staring at the two of us, Miyu was sort of afraid and was ready to bury his face into Adrian's chest. Fay was about ready to do the same with Ryan.
The flame sparked to life as Krystal flicked the lighter. She brought it up against my face, the heat made me flinch at first, but I took the pain as the fire started burning the fur and skin, sealing the wounds close.
Took over four minutes before she finally pulled the lighter away. I let out a painful yell, so blood-horrid, as I cried in pain. Some had to cover their ears, the scream sounded like absolute torture, but at the end, I just lowered my head and stared at Krystal.
"Thank you." I said, knowing that part of my face was burnt, but I didn't care. "I'll give you one thing, pup. You are certainly a crazier son of a bitch than I will ever become." Wolf said, walking out of the infirmary with Fara.
I just watched them disappear, before Ryan came up and stared at my face. He stared at the metal, the burnt wounds that surrounded that area, the burnt away fur. I looked absolutely horrible, compared to what I looked like before all of this recovery bullshit occurred. Krystal just looked at me, no longer seeing the Fox she once remembered. All she saw, was Krieger.
I looked at her and knew what she was thinking. I couldn't blame her. I didn't feel me anymore. My idea of making people fear me made things much easier now. One look at my face and you shit your pants.
I reached out and grabbed her hand, rubbing it with my finger. She looked at the embraced hands, then back into my eyes. The only thing she remembered most about me, was my dark emerald eyes. All that remained, was the right one.
"I know I look and sound different, but you got to understand that my feelings for you will never change, Krystal." "I know, Fox. I can still feel you inside your appearance. If I can sense that, that's all I ask." She said, leaning in to give me a passionate kiss on my lips.
"When this is all over. To make sure I don't lose you, I'm gonna marry your ass." I said, slowly turning around to walk away from her. She just stood there, gasped at what I just said, but smiled. Then realized something. "Hey! Wait up!"
Adrian and Ryan sat in the mess hall, drinking a couple beers later that night. Their ladies were asleep and neither of them could fall asleep. They couldn't believe what just happened.
Ryan had worked for Marcos for four years. Four years. Adrian had worked for him for six. They both considered him their friend, only to find out that he was working for Cyrus this entire time. It made them sick to their stomach.
"So with Marcos out of the picture, what are you gonna do now….especially when this is all over? I assume you want to try to settle down with Fay?" Ryan leaned farther into his chair, stroking the side of his beer bottle, trying to think.
"I will settle down with Fay. That's a fact. I….just don't know what to do though. I've been working as a bounty hunter for ten years. Four of them was for Marcos. I…I…I just don't know if I want to continue this line of work."
"I completely understand what you are saying. It's hard to figure out what you wanna do. Where would you want to settle though? The city? Mountain cottage? Suburban area?"
"A city maybe at first. Depending on the money. If it's enough. Probably a house in the suburbs." The wolf laughed a little after hearing about if he makes enough money. "Trust me, Ryan. I think we should get paid big time for this shit. This is huge shit we are dealing with here. We are assigned to stop a war from occurring. I think General Hare would pay us big time."
The husky laughed a bit. He definitely agreed with Adrian. "What about you? Where would you want to settle with Miyu?" "God…..a suburb, just like you. Or maybe I could buy myself a ship to live on. Maybe not as big as the Matchitehew…., but still a good size."
"Would you ever need a roommate for help with maintenance?" Adrian just laughed. "I'll tell you one thing. Once this is all over, I'm calling dibs on that Saleen and the SLR." "I'm all about the old school. That GTO would look good with me in it."
"Just make sure none of you touch that Charger and the Viper." Adrian and Ryan turned towards the mess hall doors, seeing me emerge through them, walking in their direction.
They stared at the metal that was exposed on my face, and saw that I was limping. Something I had to take care of, but it required a bit of work since my legs were metal, along with part of my hips.
"That for you and Kursed…ah shit. I mean Krystal?" Adrian said, as I just answered with a nod as I took a seat next Adrian, and across from Ryan. "Why are you guys up?"
"Couldn't sleep. We just been talking about what we are gonna do when this is over. Plus, we are still upset that Marcos was a fucking traitor." "God damnit. I couldn't believe it either. Felt kinda good though, but he was a friend nevertheless."
"What you gonna do when this is over, Fox?" I looked at Adrian, then looked at the ceiling. "Since my boss is dead. I figured I could start my own business. You guys are gonna be looking for work. Interested?"
"I thought you said you didn't want to see us again after this mission?" I just looked at Ryan, giving him an annoyed stare. "You interested or not?" Still managing to pull off a smile, extending my hand.
Ryan turned to stare at Adrian, then back towards me, smiling and accepting my hand. "Sounds like fun." "You know I work better with others. The more the merrier." I said, looking at Adrian, who smiled and placed his hand upon ours.
"Natasha? How long until self-diagnostic repairs are done?" "Approximately fifteen hours and forty-eight minutes." I took a look at my watch, showing the time of three twenty.
"Let me give you guys a word of advice. You love your women, right? Make sure you keep them safe. If you have to make the choice between your job and your love? Take love. I fucked up by basically saying my job was more important, but I still wanted Krystal safe. Same with Fara. Even if it may have been almost the end of me and one of those women still hate my guts…..the point is….Krystal was the best thing to ever happen to me. When she left me, I almost wished Caruso had killed me. Bad thing for him is, now he's dead. Anyway, I shouldn't have pushed Krystal away from me. I could've done both. If I had to choose between job and love, I say fuck this job and I'll take her. Took me since the Anglar War to finally realize that."
"I got a question for you?" I looked at Adrian, confused what he wanted. "Yeah?" "What happened after StarFox started falling apart?"
"Peppy became the general of Corneria. You know that. Slippy got married to Amanda and now live on Aquas. Last I heard of him, he just had twins, boy and a girl. Krystal left for StarWolf. Falco…the biggest son of a bitch ever….betrayed me." "What happened exactly?"
"Basically everything you heard. He bought the Great Fox from behind my back. Started Team Falco, with the Great Fox, soon called the Ultra Falcon, as its flagship. When I saw it flying through space, I had to take my revenge. I shot the Great Fox…Ultra Falcon….with the Matchitehew, rendering it disabled. I guess I did a huge number on it as they abandoned ship. Obviously, now its used as Cyrus' headquarters. Well, what's left of it."
"Any regrets?" I turned to look at Ryan, only to shake my head. "Can't say that I do. I can't be mad at Krystal because there's nothing to be mad at her for. I'm mad at Falco…for his betrayal."
"But you killed Panther because of Krystal?" "I killed Panther because he was a dick and deserved to die. It felt good to kill him. I know Wolf is happy that I did too…."
Everyone stared at the door, seeing that Fay was standing at the doorway, looking at us with confusion. "Ryan? You okay?" "Sure, baby. Just couldn't sleep is all. Come here."
Fay obeyed and took a seat on the husky's lap. She leaned up against his shoulder, as he rested his head upon hers, as he gave her a kiss on her forehead. "We were just talking about what we are gonna do after this is all over."
"What have you come up with so far?" "Well. Fox said he might start a business and would love to have Adrian and I as his partners." "Business? Bounty hunting?" I nodded my head.
"You think you could teach me…like how to fire a gun and show me some techniques?" "Would love to, baby. In the mean time, get back to bed. I'll be there in a minute." "Okay. Love you." "Love you too." He said, giving her a tender kiss on her lips, as she got up and started to walk away.
We watched her disappear behind the doors, as Ryan took one final swig of his beer, and placed the bottle on top of the table. "I'm gonna try to get some sleep guys. Nice talking with both of you." "Same here." "Good night." "Peace."
"Before you guys go to bed, when you get to your room, send me whatever stuff you got on Cyrus' base. I know both of you did some small scans and I want to see what we got so I can try to beat his defense."
"Yeah, yeah. Of course. Will do." "Thanks. Night, Cooper." "Night, Fox. Night, Adrian." "Night, bud." We watched him walk away, pushing the doors open before walking around the corner, disappearing from our sights.
"I better try to get some sleep too. I'll send the shit as soon as I get to my computer." "Appreciate it." "Night, McCloud." I chuckled, hadn't been called by my last name in years. "Night, Adrian."
I sat there for a while, just thinking about today. The man, who I enjoyed working for at least a year. Ended up being my enemy. Everyone knew my true identity, along with Krystal's. The only ones that weren't taking it well, was Wolf and Fara.
I got up from my chair, and headed for my room. When I arrived, I took a seat at my desk and turned on my computer. Ryan and Adrian had already sent me their info. Which surprised because it was fast. I looked at the clock and I had been sitting in that mess hall for over half an hour.
I began scanning through the shit, for ten minutes, I had peace to myself. "What are you doing?" I recognized the familiar voice, but I didn't bother to look at her. "I'm working. Important stuff."
"Can it wait till morning? I'm up now and I want a little quality time with you." "Sorry Krystal, but I got to figure shit out. Another time. I promise." I could sense her disappointment, as she sadly nodded and started turning around back towards the room.
As I continued to work, I began to remember what I said to the guys earlier. "If you have to make the choice between your job and love. Take love." "Wait." I said, causing Krystal to turn around, looking confused at me.
I shut the screen closed, and turned my chair to look at her. "What did you have in mind?" I said with a smile on my face, which seemed to make her very happy as I could see her face brighten up.
"Come in here and I'll show you." She said, slowly walking into the bedroom, wagging her tail back and forth, which turned me on. In an instant, I got out of my chair and walked into the bedroom, only to see Krystal lying on her back on the bed.
I stood at the doorway, taking off my shirt, exposing my well-built, but scarred chest. She called me in, by giving me a very seductive wink, which made me run and jump into bed, right next to her.
I got on top of her, seeing that she was wearing a very sexy lingerie nightgown, white in color, but shined from the little light that was in the room. She grabbed the back of my head and pulled me in as she began to kiss me hard, gasping as the moment became more and more intimate.
I pulled away and stared at her, while placing my hands at the straps of her gown, pulling them off her shoulders. She just stared, breathing heavily, before finally gasping as her breasts were exposed.
I leaned in to kiss her neck, slowly working my way down. I tried to read her mind, seeing what she wanted the most right now, but she put a block on me. "You…have to figure…it out…oh God…..for yourself." "I like a challenge."
I continued to kiss her neck and her chest, as I knew, just by instincts that she was enjoying this. I pulled away from her, grabbing onto her gown, and began to pull it off her completely. When I got to her hip, I noticed she was wearing a thong, almost as white as her gown.
She lifted her body by using her legs, allowing me to take off her gown easily, as I tossed it somewhere in the room. Next thing I did was grabbed her thong and slowly pulled it off of her.
Krystal at this time, breathed very hard, stared at the ceiling, tears watering her beautiful cerulean eyes. As I tossed her thong away, I took off my pants, along with my boxers, and tossed them both away.
I leaned forward, kissing her soft lips, allowing both of us to get into the moment. I could feel her hands rubbing the back of my head and back itself. Her breathing, did not slow, nor calm down.
I continued to kiss her, one of my hands fondling her breasts, causing her to enjoy the moment more. Our kiss broke when she let out a soft moaning yell, as she had felt something, that neither of us had experienced…in so long.
Ryan and Fay had just finished with their sexual moment, basically saying he fucked the living daylights out of her. He laid on his back, with her laying on his chest, his arm wrapped around her.
She breathed very hard, trying to calm herself down, but it was very for her. Ryan, just laid there with a cocky smile on his face. "Holy shit. What has gotten you to do shit like this?" Fay said, trying to slow her breathing, but she enjoyed herself too much.
"I just felt like you needed a night of well-deserved pleasure. Especially after what happened with everything today." She laughed slightly, "Well, thank you. This better happen for often." "Oh, trust me, baby. It will."
Adrian just laid in bed, thinking about his future. Miyu laid next to him, but more in a snuggling sort of way. His main focus about his future though, was who would be the best man? Me or Ryan?
He couldn't decide. He just laid there, before finally turning on his side and cuddling next to Miyu, giving her a small kiss on her cheek. She moaned a little, but remained asleep, as he rested his head on her shoulder, slowly trying to fall asleep.
"I will marry you, Miyu. I love you too much."
I slowly opened my eyes, looking at the dark room I was in. Took me a moment to remember everything that had just happened hours ago, before we both fell asleep. I lowered my head and saw Krystal was in my arms, laying her head on my chest, as she was sleeping.
I knew I couldn't escape from her, so I didn't bother trying to free myself. I just held her tight, never wanting to let her go. She began to stir as I held her tighter, slowly fluttering her eyes open.
I watched her scan the room, before finally setting her eyes upon me, smiling as she saw me awake. "You were good last night." "Just good?" She laughed that cute way I always loved. "What? Good isn't enough? What you want me to say? You're a god?"
"That be nice." She laughed as she rolled her eyes. "Okay, Fox. You're a god." "Hey. Why the sarcasm?" "You serious?" "Of course not." I said to her, pulling her closer to me so I could kiss her lips.
She rested her head back on my chest, but shuttered when she felt the metal of my face rest upon her head. "You get cold." "Sorry." I said, lifting my head off of her. "No wait. Don't move."
I rested my head on her again, but this time. She just felt relaxed as I held her tight within my grasp. "This is so nice." "I know it is, Krystal. I couldn't ask for anything else. Well maybe just one thing." "What's that?" "Oh, I'll never tell." "What? You meanie!"
She said, pushing herself off of me, only to try to tickle me, only she found out I wasn't ticklish. I started to tickle her and she started to yelp and laugh as she was being torture ever so cruelly.
I stopped after about a minute later, and I just held her close to me. Rocking her as she just laid on my chest. "I love you, Krystal." "I love you too, Fox…"
Our moment was interrupted when there was a knocking at the door. From what my senses were telling me…it was Wolf. I kicked the covers off of me, as I went over to grab my boxers, along with a pair of pants, which ended being a pair of desert cameo pants.
I walked over to the door, still shirtless. "What do you want?" I said, staring at Wolf, who looked at me, then back in our room, seeing Krystal covering herself with the covers.
"Apparently I interrupted something. Can we talk?" I just glared at him, finally walking through the doorway, closing the door behind me. "What?"
"Listen. I want to work out our differences." I just stared at him, shocked with wide-eyes. "Say what?" "You were better than me at almost everything. I was jealous of you. It sucked knowing my good friend was better than you. Now, you're better than me at pulling off the optical look."
"Listen, Wolf. Do you even know why I tried to be better than you?" He just stared at me, confused, before shaking his head. "I just wanted to earn your respect. I mean, we were friends at the Academy, yeah, but I had a feeling that I didn't have you respect. I wanted to earn it."
"You got an odd way of trying to earn someone's respect." "Yeah I know, but it's the truth." "Listen, pup. You always had my respect. During the Lylat War, our fight over Fichina, (Fortuna for those who played StarFox 64), you defeated me, but you still had my respect. Our fight over Venom, you had my respect. At Sargasso, you had my respect. Finally, I was able to push aside enough of our differences to fight along side you during the Aparoid Invasion and the Anglar War. You know why? You had my respect."
I just stared at Wolf, couldn't believe after all our fighting, I had his respect all along. "I may want things to change between us, but you still got to work things with Fara. Whatever you pulled with Krystal, try with Fara. Only no sexual moves."
I laughed a little, before finally I extended my hand, in which Wolf grabbed and shook. "Just make sure you include me in the reward when this is all over. I deserve something out of all of this." "You bet."
I watched Wolf start walking away down the hall, only this time I began to scan the ship. This was the first time I took the time to look around and saw the destruction. Conduits exploded and made giant holes in the walls, I couldn't imagine what the outside of the ship looked like.
Smoke and fire still erupted through the hull breaches, but wasn't as bad as after we made orbit of this planet. I stared at the view screen, looking at how it was cracked, only because I was tossed from where I was now, and crashed right into it.
All the terminals were a wreck. Some of the modules were tossed and now lay somewhere else on the bridge. Blood stained the walls on some locations, like to my left, when Fara was thrown and hit the wall.
I just shook my head in disbelief, my once proud ship, laid in ruins just about. Power hadn't even returned to the engines yet, meaning we were still at a drift, but I was in no hurry to get anywhere. None of us knew where we were. As far as anyone's concern, this planet, had yet to be discovered by any Lylatian.
I scanned everyone with my telepathy, just trying to figure out what they were doing. Since I was alone, I might as well get something off my chest. At least I'll try to mend things with Fara.
I entered her room in the infirmary, Wolf was sitting in a chair next to her bed. She was awake, but looked weak. The impact with the wall damaged her back, she would recover though in days time.
They both looked at me, I could see her face change immediately as soon as she saw me. Wolf, just stared at me, waving me in. "I don't want to see him. Get him out." Fara said, sounding very weak and in pain. "Fara…Just let him speak. I'll leave you two alone."
Wolf leaned forward to kiss her forehead, before heading out the room, giving me an approving nod as he walked by me. I stared at Wolf leaving the room, before turning around to stare at Fara.
I could still sense fear in her, she didn't like seeing me like this. It scared the living fuck out of her. I tried to ignore it, as I tried to remain calm as possible. "How you feeling?"
She didn't answer, just turned her head away from me. "Are you going to act like a little kid and hold this grudge forever or you gonna act grown-up and try to deal with this?" Talking very sternly at her, only to realize I sounded just like Krystal just them.
"You left me, Fox. How can I forgive you after you left me?" "Do you know why I left you?" "Because you care about me. So what?" "So what? You saw what became of me when the same happened with Krystal. To be honest, I heard she died. I went insane when I heard. Do you realize what would've happened to me if the same happened to you?"
"I just wanted to be close with you, Fox. You didn't have to push me away like that. I thought we had a future." "We did have a future." I said to her, looking at the ground before raising my head to stare at her. "Until you shot me." Fara just looked at me, tears building in her eyes. She remembered.
After one of our battles, she was polishing up her antique crossbow, when I came in to have that conversation with her. She broke down crying, only to have her rage take over her, she aimed the crossbow at me, and fired that bolt right into my heart. She left immediately, not caring if I was alive or not.
"You realize that I was never the same after that." "I wasn't the same after that either. At least Wolf was kind enough to take me in." I just lowered my head, sighing. "Listen to me. If you would've died, who knows what could've happened to me. We all see what happened to me now after what happened with Krystal. Do I have regrets leaving you like that…yes I do, but look where it brought you."
"I'm in a bed with a bad back." "You're lucky to even be alive. What I mean is though, look how close you are with Wolf. Did you ever love me as much as you love him?"
Fara just stared at me, thinking, only to let out a soft chuckle. "No." "Then we weren't meant to be together. You were meant to be with Wolf. You and I would've been unhappy. You and I both know that, and I am not sorry I left you."
Fara just looked at me, looked like she was about to cry though. "But I am sorry about the way I did leave you. I just wanted you safe, Fara. Was that so much to ask?" Tears streamed down her cheek, she looked at the foot of her bed, only to shake her head. Soon, she started a bawling, only to be collected in my arms. She rested her head on my shoulders, sobbing. I just rubbed the back of her neck, trying to calm her down. "I'm so sorry I shot you." She barely said, her crying made it hard to talk.
I shushed her, trying to quiet her, but her crying did cease. Wolf walked through the door, seeing us hugging and her crying. He couldn't help, but put a smirk on his face. "Are we friends again?" I asked her, a tears now starting to form in my right eye. I just felt her nod.
We began to release each other, but I saw her eyes move and started to stare at something behind us. I turned around and saw Wolf standing at the doorway. "By the looks of things, you two are okay with each other now."
Fara just gave a slight laugh, as she tried to stop her crying. "Yeah. They are." I turned to look at her, giving her a smile, but she just shook at her head at me. "I have to say I hate seeing you like this. I miss your face."
I just chuckled, as I patted her leg. "Something we all have to get used to." I got up from my spot, only to turn around and head out the door. "She's all yours, Wolf." He just patted my shoulder, as I exited the room, leaving the two together with privacy.
"What the fuck is Zar Mega?" "That's the name of that planet." I said, pointing at the world beneath us. "Wasn't that the world where the Terrans were fighting the Zerg and Protoss? (My Starcraft story I am currently writing.) This is it?"
"Isn't that like a good distance out of Lylat?" "Four lightyears to be exact." I said, knowing that everyone was in shock when I told them. "The premature jump must've given the engines extra power, plus a miscalculation to drive us all the way out here. It'll take us five days to get back to Lylat."
"What are we gonna do?" Fara said, sounding a little in pain from her back. "Well the good thing is that no one knows we are out here. So we can say we are alone. Hopefully, we can find a planet along the way, help with repairs. God knows the Matchitehew needs it."
"Is that planet still have a war brewing on it?" Krystal asked, sitting on a damage console. "No. The war finally ended at that array over there." I said, pointing at a damage steel platform, about five kilometers long. "There is nothing we can used. Trust me, I've researched."
"So what do we do?" "We start heading back to Lylat. Hopefully we find an advanced planet to help us with repairs. Natasha, set a course for Corneria. If there's a planet along the way with our technology, change heading, otherwise enter NOS Drive as your discretion." "Affirmative, Krieger."
Krystal searched the ship to try and find me, I had been missing for about half an hour and since this was such a huge ship, she had a hard time trying to find me. Then, she started remembering stuff about the past, I always loved to do maintenance on my Arwing.
She arrived in the hanger bay, seeing that I wasn't near the Zlogon Je at all. I was in the cargo container, looking at all the cars. She made her way until finally she was able to peek inside, seeing that I was sitting behind the wheel of the Charger.
The black paint glistened underneath the light that made its way into the container, as she approached the driver side of the car. "What are you doing in here?" "Take a seat in the Viper. That will be your car, remember?" Krystal turned around, seeing that the Viper was right next to her.
She walked around and took a seat on the soft leather of the black V10 convertible. "I like this." I just stared at her, with a big smile on my face, as I rested up against my seat.
"Ever think about having kids?" "What?" She sound, completely shocked by the unexpected question. She just stared at me with wide eyes, almost laughing and a smile. "I'm serious. You ever think of ever having kids?"
"Well I need to find the right guy first. Be willing to be there for his family, support them. Able to give up his work if necessary." "Hmm. I guess that's not me." Krystal just turned her head, and stared at me with an irritated look. "Fox, get over here."
"You get over here." "Fox. Now!" I jumped at her sudden increase in tone as I hastily opened and closed the door of the Charger and hopped in the Viper almost in a matter of seconds.
She just laughed at my actions I just preformed. "Would you be willing to give up your job….just for me and our kids?" "Krys. Sigh. You already know the answer to that." "Can you at least just say it to me?" I looked at her, her face, serious, but looked sad at the same time.
I took her hand in mine. "Krystal. I would do anything for you and our kids. I would be there every moment I can, just so I can see them grow. If that meant giving up my line of work, I would say fuck my job. There are things more important to me. I love you too much to let you go again."
Krystal just smiled, as I could see tears starting to fall down her cheek. I grabbed her by the back of her neck and pulled her in, allowing me to kiss her lips. Our kiss separated, she laughed when our lips parted. She was happy knowing that I will always be there for her.
"I just swear to God that they don't become me. I'm pretty fucked up." "No. Not at all." She said, playing with the hair on top of my head. "You're too sweet to be fucked up."
I looked at her, a smile upon my face, as I pulled her in to give her a hug. I held her tight, just so she knew I was there for her. She kissed my ear, I just kissed hers.
We parted and got out of the car, starting to walk away. Krystal started to get out when something caught her attention. A small box, covered in blue velvet. She picked it up off the dashboard and opened it, covering her mouth when she gazed upon it. A ring.
The band was a very expensive gold, very rare in most parts of the galaxy. The diamond, glistened in the light, about as big as I sweet pea. She laughed as she began to cry again. She placed it on her finger, only to run out of the vehicle, to try and catch up to me.
I stopped when I heard her footsteps approaching faster than I anticipated because as soon as I turned around, she was right there, tackling me to the ground. "Oh fuck." I mumbled, as I banged my head against the hard metal floor.
She started giving me passionate kisses, I couldn't resist long enough to ignore them. I could feel her tears falling on my face, tears of joy. I just held her tight, not wanting to let her go. "Yes…..sniff….of course I'll marry you." "I always hoped you would."
Everyone sat in the mess hall, eating something as simple as a sandwich, or something as large as a three coarse meal, which meant Ryan. I just shook my head at the hungry husky, who piled in the food, as Fay just stared at him, wide eyed, but still giggling.
"Have you ever heard of manners, Cooper?" He just shook his head as he continued to eat. "Did I ever eat like that?" "One time. After our mission your mission on Sauria. The first time I came on the Great Fox, I followed you into the kitchen, and I watched you gorge yourself."
I just looked forward, and closed my eyes as I shook my head, only to grow sadness within me. "Son of a bitch. I can't even close my eyes normally anymore. God damn this fucking sucks."
Everyone stared at me, particularly, the half metal face I bestowed. I looked around, seeing everyone looking at me, I could only take so much as I pushed myself out of my chair and started to walk away.
Krystal started to get up and chase after me, but I just stopped told her to stop. She looked at me, confused and sad, but I just wanted to be alone. I walked out of that mess hall, alone.
I sat on the bridge, my captain's chair to be exact, looking out into space. I looked around at my body, the scars from the plasma wounds, finally feeling the metal that was my face with my left hand. "You okay?"
I wanted to look at Krystal, but I just lowered my head and closed the one remaining eye I had. I shook my head no, only because It finally had hit me. I became a freak of nature.
"You are not a freak of nature." "Krystal. Look at me. How many people do you know that look like me?" "Since when did you start caring about what people think of you?" "It's just hard, you know?"
Krystal placed her hand on my cheek, trying to get me to look at her, a tear was forming in my eye, she smiled and leaned in to kiss me. "Do you think all of this makes you less of the person I love? I love you for you, Fox. You saved me from Andross. You protected me during the Aparoid Invasion. I will always love you, because you are the sweetest, kindest vulpine I ever met."
I couldn't help, but laugh as she called me a vulpine. "And I know surrounding all your metal implants, is solid muscle, that's why you look so hot when you don't have clothes on."
I held her close to me, swaying our bodies back and forth, trying to feel better. She did a good job. "Now. Stop with this bullshit, and look forward to tonight. I have a little surprise for you." "What kind of surprise?" "Oh, I'll never tell." "Oh you big tease!"
I picked her up, as she let out a loud yelp as it seemed I was about to throw her, but I just held her and kissed her soft lips with mine. The moment was complete now, but I broke away when something didn't feel right.
She looked at me confused as I was staring out a window, seeing a ship approaching us. "Who the fuck is that?" I didn't bother scanning the ship, I had a more accurate way of scanning, my sixth sense.
My breathing really slowed down, as I looked like I had the expression of I had just seen a ghost. Krystal tried to get me to look at her, or at least respond to her, but I was too much in shock. "Fox! What the fuck is it?" "Krystal? It's Matt."
