CHAPTER EIGHT

Run for the Hills!

October 25, 2053

McCloud's House

Marcus woke up bright and early on Saturday morning, raring to get going on a day all to himself. Usually he'd call Chase and Anna and have them over or something of that nature, but today, he felt like he needed complete isolation from anyone but his parents.

He got out of bed, opened his closet door and changed into a pair of denim jeans and a T-shirt with the Star Fox emblem printed on it. He went out into the hall, slid down the banister and jogged into the kitchen. Fox sat at the table, reading a newspaper, while Krystal stood in front of the stove, frying something in a pan.

"And how are we this morning?" Marcus said, smugly grinning

Fox looked up with a grin on his face.

"SOMEONE seems energetic today." He said, chuckling.

"Never been better." Marcus stretched a little before continuing. "I swear nothing could bring ME down today."

Or so he thought. Right after he finished his sentence, his pager went off.

Marcus groaned. The only time his pager rang was when he had a mission.

"You've gotta be freakin' kidding me!"

Marcus really didn't want to go anywhere or do anything today, but he answered the pager just the same. A holographic image of Chase's head appeared.

"Don't tell me: mission time, right?" Marcus asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Err…yeah." Chase said.

The hologram disappeared and Marcus pocketed the pager.

"Dammit! It had to be on a Saturday." he said angrily.

He turned to his parents.

"Duty calls."

"Don't lose heart, sport." said Fox. "After all, it's for the best."

"Try to get back in one piece, okay?" said Krystal.

Marcus smirked.

"You guys worry about me too much."

45 minutes later

Marcus parked his hovercraft outside the Grand Cornerian Airway and walked inside. The Great Fox MK III (a more streamlined version of the ship that both Slippy and Chase worked on together as a father-son bonding experience.) already had its engines ignited.

Marcus stepped underneath the ship. A long, tractor beam appeared and warped him inside. Chase, Anna, Falco and ROB were waiting for him at the bridge.

"So what's the biz, guys?" Marcus asked.

"Here, I'll show ya." Chase said.

Chase turned around and booted up the hologram device. An image of planet Fichina appeared.

"We received a recon probe from Fichina." Chase began. "Its sender is unknown, but whoever it is, they're claiming that the climate control center down there is malfunctioning. I'm pretty sure you already know this, but that center is what keeps the daily blizzards down there in check. If the center's offline, those blizzards will get outta control."

"That's where we come in." Anna spoke up. "We're gonna go down there and see what the damage is. The problem is we can't fly the Great Fox down there because there's a Venomian nuclear base near the control center. We'd be spotted before we got anywhere near landing there."

"And your point is?" Marcus asked.

"My recommendation is that one of us goes alone to inspect the base. It'll be easier to sneak around that way."

"Let me guess: you want me to do it."

"Kinda. Yeah."

"I don't know about this, kids." Falco said. "The last time we got an SOS signal from an unknown source was during the Aparoid invasion. Turns out Pigma Dengar sent it to steal a Core Memory from us and make a quick buck."

"Falco, when's the last time YOU were cautious about ANYTHING?" Chase asked.

Falco shut his mouth.

"Fan-freakin'-tastic…except you forgot something." Marcus spoke up, faking thinking it over. "What was it now? C'mon, it's on the tip of my tongue…I can't go down THERE wearing THIS!"

The others glanced at his clothes.

"Yeah, about that." Chase replied. "We took the liberty of making a suit that'll protect you from the cold."

He pulled a very thick jacket and cargo pants out from behind his back and threw it to Marcus.

"Try it on! It fits like a glove!"

Marcus slipped the outfit on. Chase wasn't lying. He felt as though he were in a toaster when he wore the suit.

"OK, if everyone's ready, prepare for liftoff!"

Each team member jumped into a seat and buckled themselves down.

Marcus looked around the inside of the giant starship. There were almost 30 years of history in these walls…30 years of brave men and women who fought for the safety of others. And by taking up his place as the leader, Marcus was continuing the legacy started by his grandfather and made into legend by his father.

Marcus clenched his fist. He wasn't going to let his dad (or anyone else) down…not while he led Star Fox.

The Great Fox slowly floated into the air and out of the airway.

"ROB, when we make it to the mesosphere, be prepared to jump to light speed.

"Affirmative." ROB replied.

In under a minute, the Great Fox was in Outer Space.

"5 seconds to light speed." ROB said.

"Let's bring it to 'em, gang." Marcus said.

Chase weighed his hat down with his hand.

"…3…2…1…LAUNCH."

The Great Fox shot forward for about 2 seconds and suddenly stopped. During those 2 seconds, the fur (or, in Falco's case, feathers) stood on end. The pure white planet of Fichina lay in front of them.

"Operation Center Recovery is under way." Anna said.

On the planet...

Marcus squinted to see through the harsh snow whipping across the Fichina sky. It wasn't as rough Anna said it was…in fact, it was even worse!

He had just barely managed to land his Arwing on a small plateau about ten kilometers from the climate control center. Unfortunately, he didn't see that he had landed near the nuclear base until he hopped out of his ship.

"Great. If there's one thing I suck at more than flirting with a girl, it's sneaking around." Marcus muttered.

Marcus' communicator crackled. Chase could be heard.

"Looks like you landed near the nuclear plant by accident." he said.

Marcus rolled his eyes. "Yeah, no freakin' duh! Just tell me how to get to the control center without being spotted."

"Well, that might be bit of a problem. There's several guards patrolling the area. You should be lucky that they haven't seen you already. Try finding something to hide behind."

"In simple terms, be stealthy, which I suck at." Marcus grumbled after he had turned off the communicator.

He flipped up the hood on the Thermal Jacket, carefully ran over to one of the plant's walls and hid behind it. Peeking around the corner, Marcus saw several Venomians (hideous monkey-like creatures) were parading around toting machine guns.

Marcus spotted one about 10 feet away. Crouching down, he snuck over to the guard. When he was standing right behind him, he stood up, covered the Venomian's mouth and hit him on the back of the head.

The Venomian fell down unconscious. Marcus dragged him behind a wall and left him there. He looked around and realized it would take all day to knock out the rest of the guards. Darting his eyes around, he spotted a ladder leading to a catwalk about 20 feet off the ground. He climbed up the ladder and cautiously peeked over the top. There were guards up there, as well.

Marcus looked to the right and spotted what looked like a cardboard box lying a few feet away from him.

"Uhh…not the wisest cover…but sure." he thought.

He took the chance anyway. He made sure no one was looking, climbed up the ladder, crawled over to the box and hid underneath it. While the guards weren't looking, he edged the box (and himself) to the other side of the walk.

One shameless Metal Gear ripoff later...

It had certainly taken long enough, but sneaking around inside the cardboard box had managed to get Marcus to the center without getting spotted. Marcus pushed the box off of him and opened the door to the control center. The blizzard had died down a bit, making it easier for him to see.

Marcus flipped down the hood. Even so, the center felt like an oven in the core of a gigantic snowball.

"OK, guys. I'm at the center." Marcus said into his comm. "Do you copy?"

Chase's voice crackled.

"We're reading you loud and clear, Mark. Have a look at the central control unit. There should be a computer on it somewhere."

Marcus walked around to the other side and spotted the computer. "Yeah, I see it."

"Log in with username: Climatemaintenance. Password: 607_J8E"

Marcus typed in the username and password and hit the Enter button.

"OK. Now what?"

"Click on 'My Computer.' There should be a thumbnail called 'System Repair.'"

Marcus scrolled over the icon with the mouse and clicked on it. The he found System Repair and clicked on that.

"There's a button that says 'Repair'. Click on that."

Marcus clicked on the button. A window appeared onscreen.

"Uhh…this is just a guess, mind you, but I think something's wrong." he said.

"What's the window say?" Chase asked.

"'System 100% stable. Repair not required.'"

"That means it's working just fine. Why would anyone send us here if there's nothing wrong with the…wait a minute."

Marcus thought over the situation. He got a horrible sinking feeling when he found the answer.

"Damn it! I've been duped!"

"Get back to your Arwing before something goes screwy!" Chase shouted.

Marcus activated the remote control for his ship and ran for the door.

"I copy THAT!"

He ran outside. His Arwing was ten feet away when suddenly…

…a small rocket flew out of nowhere and it exploded in mid-air!

Marcus was thrown backward into a wall. He shook the stars out of his eyes and groaned.

He couldn't believe it. He, Marcus James McCloud, was being ambushed!

"There you are, McCloud!" shouted a very familiar female voice.

Marcus looked at the top of the control tower. Coyote was standing on it…with a rocket launcher in her hand!

"Oh, great." Marcus muttered.

"Now hold still so I don't make a mess!" she hollered, aiming the gun at him.

Marcus' eyes darted left and right until he saw what he was looking for: a land-speeder. Coyote fired the gun. Marcus dove out of the way and hopped on the speeder. He ignited the engines and sped away, but not before flipping up his middle finger at Coyote and shouting, "Go to hell!"

Coyote jumped down from the tower and growled.

"You can't escape me, you stupid brat!"

She hopped on another speeder and drove after him. Marcus took in several small breathes as he switched gears on the speeder. He remembered that there was a Cornerian recon post about 50 kilometers away from his current position. If he could get there before Coyote caught up with him, he could use one of the military ships to get back to the Great Fox.

Marcus heard Falco's voice over the wind rushing past him as he sped across the snowy plain.

"Mark, what the hell is going on down there?"

"I'm headed for the recon post. O'Donnell ambushed me! I just managed to lose her, but…'

"I'M STILL HERE, MCCLOUD!" Coyote shouted.

Marcus looked back and saw that Coyote was 20 feet behind him and gaining.

"Oh, crap! I'll call you back!" he shouted into the comm before turning it off.

He looked back at Coyote and grinned.

"Catch me if you can, wisenheimer!"

He shifted gears and picked up speed. Coyote growled.

"A wisenheimer, am I?"

Coyote pulled out a laser blaster and started firing at Marcus. Marcus, in response, pulled out his staff and started shooting fireballs at Coyote. This, of course, removed his eyes from where he was going. When he looked back, he flew right over a hill and landed with a thud that nearly knocked him off.

Escape seemed nearly impossible. No matter how many times he shifted gears, Coyote was still right on his tail, and turning around and taunting her was helping, either.

Marcus looked ahead and saw something that nearly made him fall off his speeder: a drop-off. Coyote had forced him to flee up a mountain. The mountains of Fichina were well over 1000 feet in height. No one who fell off them ever survived. Seeing what little choice he had, Marcus sheathed his staff and jumped away from the speeder. He landed with his head stuck in the snow, while the speeder went flying off the cliff. For a few seconds, Marcus was stuck rapidly flailing his arms and legs until his head popped out of the snow.

"OK, McCloud." he said to himself. "Shake it off. Shake it off. It's just snow."

Marcus looked up and saw Coyote still coming on her speeder.

"What a buncha sh…wait a sec." he thought.

Marcus saw that Coyote wasn't even paying attention to him. He saw the panic in her eyes as she tried to stop the speeder. Suddenly, she swerved off to the right and fell off the speeder. Without the equipment to keep a proper foothold, she went sliding toward the cliff, screaming.

Marcus didn't know what to do. He heard a serious voice in his head.

"You're not just gonna let her die, are you?" it said. "C'mon! You're the leader of Star Fox! You're SUPPOSED to save lives."

Then another voice came, this one sounding like a laidback dude.

"Hey, don't bother, man! She tried to kill you…TWICE! Don't save the chick that wants you dead!"

Marcus frowned when he heard that voice.

"What are you, nuts?" he said.

Marcus didn't know what he was thinking, but he got on his stomach and started sliding toward Coyote. Just as she went off the edge of the cliff, he grabbed her hand. His arm started straining.

"Good Lord, she's heavy!" he thought.

Marcus got to his knees and summoning all of his strength, he pulled Coyote up. The force was so strong that she landed on top of him.

"Are you OK?" Marcus asked in a dazed tone.

Coyote was about to answer when she caught sight of Marcus' eyes.

She stared at him, almost lovingly. His gaze had hypnotized her...AGAIN!

"Uhh…hellOOOO? Anyone in there?" Marcus said.

Coyote shook her trance out. Marcus could now get a good look at her face. It was the girl he rescued from the street thugs when he was ten.

"You…you saved me…why? I'm…I'm trying to kill you." she stammered.

"A true hero saves his enemies as well as his friends." Marcus said.

Anna's quotes could break the ice from time to time.

"…thank you.'

"Uh…would you mind getting off of me?"

Coyote looked down and that she was still lying on top of him.

"Sorry." she sheepishly said.

They both stood up. Now they both couldn't help but stare at each other.

Coyote's face looked almost the same as when Marcus first met her, only now she was wearing smoky eye shadow and a bit of eye liner. The jumpsuit she was wearing was made of the same material as Anna's, only her's was black and…slightly more skin-tight. Some of her hair hung down over her left eye. Her eyes themselves were deep blue. All in all, she had a bit of a gothic look to her, but she was still twice as appealing as any girl Marcus had ever seen simply because her look was so unique.

For a second, Marcus felt like his nose was going to start bleeding if he kept staring at her slim, perfect hourglass figure

"Wow, she's certainly grown!" Marcus thought.

"He's even braver than before…God, this guy is so damn cute I could just…" Coyote thought.

Twice Marcus had saved Coyote from complete devastation, and twice she hadn't returned the favor. She wanted to thank him in ways neither of them could even BEGIN to imagine, but she thought of one right away and used it.

"Truce?" she asked, holding out her hand.

Marcus just stared at it. If there was one thing everyone knew, it was that the O'Donnell family were some of the sneakiest people ever born. One minute they were guarding you with their life, the next they left you for dead.

…that is, if THEY weren't the ones trying to kill you.

But Coyote's gun had gone over the cliff, and she didn't have her father's claws…at least, it didn't look like she did.

She smirked.

"Come on! I don't bite…much."

Marcus smirked. Something about the way she was smiling at him made him feel like she'd spend the whole day with him if she could.

"Alright."

He took her hand.

"Truce."

Marcus scratched the back of his head.

"And…sorry about calling you a crazy bitch the other day…AND about the electric chair and hot coals thing."

Coyote giggled.

"That's OK. It WAS kinda funny when you said it like that. I gotta admit; you've got good delivery."

"And your ship…it's actually REALLY cool."

"Aww, thank you!"

She didn't even need to ask. From the look in his eyes, Coyote could tell that Marcus had remembered her.

The two started trekking back down the mountain, all the while talking.

"So…uh…why were you trying to kill me, anyway?" Marcus asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Coyote replied. "Our fathers hate each other."

"Oh, yeah. But is that the only reason?"

"Basically, yeah. I don't know why they hate each other, but my dad's supposedly always trying to be better than your dad. One way to do that was for me to fight you and win…which, as we both know, ain't gonna happen. I'm no where near as experienced…or patient as you."

"Well, that explains a lot. But we don't have to fight, y'know. I mean, we don't have to suffer because of our parents' rivalry. We can still be friends, right?"

Coyote's face fell somewhat.

"Yeah…friends…"

Marcus looked at her.

"What…you don't want to?"

Coyote rolled her eyes.

"Don't be stupid. Of course I do!"

She was hiding her real thoughts, but she didn't dare to mention them now. It would be too embarrassing.

"Even if we don't fight, that isn't going to stop Wolf and Fox from fighting. Besides, my dad is probably just gonna send me after you again, anyway." she said, grimacing.

"Hey, it's not your fault. But if you want their rivalry to end, you're gonna have to start saying no to your dad."

Coyote nodded.

"Yeah, you're right…do you have a ride home?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure it's…" Marcus started, but stopped in his tracks, turned around and glared at her. "Right at the intersection of BLOWN and UP!"

Coyote blushed.

"Heh heh…oops."

Then she got an idea.

"I'll take you back to the Great Fox in my ship."

Marcus' head snapped up.

"The Iron Maiden? Are you crazy?"

"If you just explain what happened, I'm sure your team will let it slide. I'll just tell my dad that you got away before I could catch you."

Marcus didn't really have much of a choice. He didn't have a ship to fly, and the recon post was too far away to get to on foot. He'd freeze to death before he'd make it.

"OK, I'll ride with you…if we make it back alive!"

He pointed at a group of Venomian guards sprinting at them.

"Son of a..!" Coyote growled.

Marcus pulled out his laser blaster, set it to Stun and tossed it to Coyote. Then he unsheathed his staff.

"Who the hell are you?" one of the guards barked.

Marcus stood in a defensive position with the staff.

"Give me YOUR name and I'll give you mine!"

The other guard rolled his eyes.

"Don't give us that bullcrap! Get your hands where we can see 'em! Both of you!"

Coyote and Marcus aimed their weapons at the guards.

"Back off, Diddy Kong!" Coyote shouted.

"Diddy Kong? What kind of insult is that?" Marcus asked.

"Sorry, that's the best I've got."

Nevertheless, the guards kept coming.

The two teenagers sprinted, cart wheeled away from the bullets that the Venomians fired, and shot off their weapons. The blasts put them on the ground in seconds.

When the two made it back up to the nuclear plant, Coyote tapped a few buttons on her armlet. Her ship came flying toward them.

"OK, do you guys copy EVERYTHING from us?" Marcus asked.

"Beats me. I'm not the technical genius."

"Then who is?"

"I think it's Leon…but it might be Oikonny. I dunno. I'm too klutzy to hold a wrench without fumbling it."

The ship landed a few feet away from them. Just as they started running for the ship, a massive bulldozer came barreling at them from the plant.

"Go!" Marcus shouted. "I'll hold him off."

Coyote hesitated, and then ran towards the Iron Maiden. The dozer was massive, about 25 feet in height. Marcus suddenly felt a rumbling in his hand. The staff was glowing and vibrating. Just as the bulldozer came close to flattening Marcus, the staff shot an immense amount of water vapor from the back end, sending Marcus into the sky.

"OH MY GOD!" he screamed as he flew 50 feet into the air.

He landed feet-first on top of the dozer. The driver came up on top of the vehicle and pulled out a knife.

Marcus raised an eyebrow at him, then showed him the staff.

"Seriously?" he asked before smacking the driver in the face and sending him tumbling off the dozer.

Marcus spotted a large fuel tank that seemed to be linked to the entire plant. He jumped inside the cab of the dozer and turned on his comm.

"Coyote, you see that fuel tank?" he called.

"Yeah, I see it. Why?"

"Shoot it!"

Coyote shot the tank. It didn't overtly damage it, but it DID cause it to spring a leak.

"When I give the signal, I want you to shoot the dozer with your second artillery!"

"But you're still in there!"

"Just trust me!"

Marcus flipped up a lever and started driving the dozer toward the plant. When he was about 20 feet away, he left it in Drive and jumped out of the cab.

"NOW!" Marcus shouted.

Coyote hit a red button above her head, and a small missile came firing out of her cannon. The missile slammed into the dozer's fuel reserve and set it on fire.

"Marcus…you…are a genius." Coyote said when she figured out what he had planned.

"No time to gawk at it!" Marcus shouted. "Pick me up!"

Coyote flew her ship down close enough to the ground for Marcus to grab the wing and climb into the cockpit.

"Now hit the boost and let's get our butts outta here!"

Coyote slammed the boost and the Iron Maiden flew up into the atmosphere just as the flaming dozer collided with the leaking fuel reserve. The explosion from the tank started a chain reaction, and within seconds, nothing was left of the base except bits of debris.

Back on familiar territory...

The Iron Maiden landed in the hangar bay of the Great Fox. Marcus hopped out.

"So will I see you again?" he asked.

Coyote grinned. "You never know. Catch you later."

She slyly winked at him before closing the cockpit door and flying out of the open door.

Marcus felt woozy and mesmerized. He'd never been that close to a girl before except for Anna, so believe it or not, he was shy and purely entranced. He could swear that someone in his head was playing a sexy tune on a saxophone.

Suddenly, he came to his senses and started hitting his head with his hand.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

The saxophone was replaced by a short record skip, then nothing.

"What am I doing?" Marcus muttered. "I may be a teenager, but still!"

He shook the thought out of his head and walked toward the command bridge. When he got there, Falco, Chase and Anna were waiting for him.

"You're alive!" Chase exclaimed.

"Of course I'm alive, you knucklehead!" Marcus replied. "I'm a McCloud, after all."

"What happened?" asked Anna. "You mentioned O'Donnell on the comm."

"And what was that huge explosion down there?" asked Falco.

"I…I ran into Coyote." Marcus replied.

'And?" asked Chase.

"I saved her life."

The other Star Fox members were taken aback.

"YOU saved a Star Wolf member?" asked Anna.

"And I think she likes me."

He really shouldn't have mentioned that last part.

Chase nearly passed out, Anna gasped and Falco had to hold on to a chair to keep himself from falling over.

"Oh, no, no, no, no!"Chase exclaimed.

"What's wrong?" Marcus asked.

"Do you have any idea how bad that it is? She's Wolf O'Donnell's daughter! Who knows what she could do to you!"

"I know that! But…what if I like her back?

Chase slapped Marcus across the face.

"Ouch! What was that for?" Marcus said, rubbing his smarting cheek.

"Work with me here! Whatever relationship you've got going on with that chick, you gotta end it! I've seen her type before. That's the kind of girl that'll get close to you, lure you into bed, make you feel safe and WHAM! You're toast, my friend, you're a sitting duck!"

Anna crossed her arms.

"Seriously, have you ever even…talked to a girl?" she asked.

Chase flushed bright red.

"She's got a point. Are you SURE you didn't get that out of some random horror movie?" Falco asked.

Chase sighed.

'Alright, whatever. Just don't let your guard down."

Falco stepped forward.

'Now, the explosion?"

"We blew up the nuclear base. So if you wanna get technical about it, she helped us all out."

Falco's eyes widened.

"Damn, you're not as gentle as you look…but then you couldn't be."

Marcus rolled his eyes. Since Corneria was currently at war with Venom, it was best to do as much damage to the opposing army as you could. If you wanted to do that, you needed to get your licks in anyway you could. Blowing up a nuclear base was one of them. The biggest lick would be to kill the leader. They would do that if they even knew who (or where) he or she was.

"Ok, enough. You guys know I can't stand getting nagged."

Marcus turned to ROB.

"ROB, set course for home. I think I've had enough action for one day."

"Affirmative."