CHAPTER TWELVE

Less of a Battle and More of a War

March 5th, 2057

Zephyr Hinterlands, Planet Katina

The last time Marcus had been on Katina had been three years ago. He remembered the horrible sight of Katt taking a grenade explosion for Falco and nearly dying because of it, but he also knew that their new enemy could cause a lot worse than a few shrapnel injuries. What was different from that mission was the time. Back then they had gone there at about two in the afternoon. Now they were crawling through the short grass at near-midnight with only the stars above to light their way…and the brightly-lit base, but what the hell do I know? I'm just the narrator.

The mission was simple: Aparoids had invaded a nearby defense facility, and the Cornerians had to get it back. While Marcus, Damalgo, and several dozen soldiers from the Husky unit (including Anna's father Bill) were crawling through the grass and trying their hardest not to make any sort of noise, the rest of the team (except Chase, who was still aboard the Great Fox putting some finishing touches on an upgrade) and the Greyhound unit (including Commander Dane) were flying silently in through the other side.

"This is far enough." said Bill, raising his hand and clenching it into a fist. "Everyone stop."

They halted and stayed perfectly still. Marcus could see several Aparoids crawling around on the outside walls. Getting in was going to be difficult. Thankfully, that's what the fleet coming in from the other side was for. The Aparoids were thrown into a mass confusion when fifty ships suddenly came diving down out of the clouds and blasting them off their posts.

"There's the diversion!" Bill shouted. "Charge!"

The soldiers in the grass stood up with a loud battle cry and charged toward the now-open gate. The second the Aparoids figured out what was going on, they delved down to the ground and tried to block off the Cornerian militia from entering, but it was to no avail with the son of the legendary Fox McCloud on their side. The soldiers charged forward, pulling down the triggers on their guns and firing bullets from every conceivable angle to keep the alien menaces from coming any closer to them. Marcus flipped over the head of one, impaling its throat with his staff before getting a perfect headshot on another in front of him.

"Chase! How's that Landmaster upgrade coming along?" he said into the comm.

"Almost done! Just gimme a few more minutes!"

Marcus flinched when he heard a loud buzzing noise from the other end of the line, though calmed himself down when he realized it was just that damn robot again.

"Come here, space! I have a secret for you!" ROB blared. "No, come closer…"

"What is it, ROB?" asked Chase.
"…I'm the best. I'm the best at space."

"Of course you are."

"Hey, let…l-let's go to space!"

"We're in space every other day, ROB."

"Space."

"Yes."

"Chase, seriously." Damalgo said in an aggravated tone. "Get that guy fixed. Sure, it was funny the first few times, but now it's just making me wanna blow my head off."

"Dude, even I don't know what's wrong with him. And let me tell you: if I can't figure something out, you know you're fucked."

Putting the banter between the frog and the robot aside, Marcus strafed through the bullet fire until he found a suitable cover and crouched down behind it.

"Shit. This is starting to get even more blown out of proportion than it already was."

"Mark! Heads up!" shouted Coyote.

An airborne Aparoid had made an attempt to sneak attack Marcus from above, only for it to be blasted out of the sky when Dane came shooting in out of nowhere.

"Grey!" he shouted. "Take your unit and head inside! Try to flush them out as soon as you can.

"Got it, Dane!" Bill replied before turning to his troops. "Okay, boys! Let's take it to 'em!"

"Almost there, and…done!" Chase exclaimed. "Alright, Mark! I'm beaming the Nightstriker down to you now!"

"Nightstriker?"

"Check it out!"

A brilliant beam of light rained down from the sky and struck a spot within the base. When the light faded, the Landmaster tank was sitting there and looking ready to go, but it looked slightly bulkier than it did before, not to mention having navy blue where the white usually was. Chase had certainly applied Nightmare's armour onto it, but it didn't really look like it was going to help matters much other than just providing some extra defense.

That was all beside the point that this spot was several hundred yards away from where Marcus was standing, and the path to it was blocked by dozens of Aparoids.

"Looks like ROB's not the only thing Chase needs to fix…" Marcus grumbled before sprinting off towards the tank as fast as he could.

Weaving in and out of the way of the bullet storm going on was hard enough for the young McCloud without there being giant bugs slashing or firing at him every few seconds. When one of the Aparoids stopped in his path, he ran up its arm and impaled his staff through the back of its neck before carrying on to slide between the legs of another and shoot it directly in the face.

With the Nightstriker down on the ground, Chase piloted out of the Great Fox and flew down to the ground. The last place he wanted to be if (or even when) he was attacked by Kursed was up there with only the malfunctioning ROB to keep him company ("Space space space space"). Just like Marcus had thought before, Chase was trying his best to show that he wasn't afraid of what could possibly happen to him. That said, there wasn't really much that scared him, but he knew she'd figure something out. If she could scare someone like Anna and cause someone like Peter to slip into delirium, there was certainly a possibility she'd tap into his subconscious mind just to see what would get at him the most.

"Just gotta prepare myself, I suppose." he mumbled as he zipped to the right, locked onto a gang of Aparoids and let loose with a smart bomb.

Anna and Coyote paired up and shot down several more Aparoids, with Coyote ejecting and slitting the throat of one for good measure.

"Hey, cousin." she said upon landing back in her ship. "You okay?"

"I…I'm fine. I've shaken it off."

"You were screaming like a banshee. You don't really expect me or anyone else to just shrug that off, do you?"

"I'm okay…"

Anna steadily smiled at looked over at the Slip Strap.

"Chase made sure of that."

Marcus cartwheeled out of the way of another huge blast and was nearly at the Nightstriker when his radar along with everyone else's blipped, indicating that a foreign vessel had entered the vicinity.

"Great…" Marcus groaned. "Star Wolf in three, two, one."

"Who could it be?" chuckled a suave and deep voice.

In came the Wolfen christened the Black Rose with its pilot Panther Caroso behind the steering control looking as smug as ever.

"I'm gonna take a wild guess and say…" Marcus started.

"Wolf caught wind of the assault and told me to help you out. Do you need it?" Panther asked.

"Seeing how Oikonny actually was some help back on Venom, I'll say sure…but who's your friend?"

The friend in question piloted another Wolfen that looked identical to the Black Rose in several ways save for overall size and blaster shape, this one titled the Chica Demonio. Marcus wasn't exactly fluent in the other two languages of Corneria (Spanish and Japanese), but he did know that this loosely translated to "Demon Girl" (I wouldn't know either because I don't speak Spanish, which I attribute to my being Canadian. Google Translate for the win).

He couldn't see the pilot, but was surprised to find his question answered by a soothing Latino voice.

"Name's Sierra Banderas, sweetheart." she said coyly. "Nice to meet you, too."

"Well, well, Caroso." Bill smirked. "You finally got yourself hitched, huh?"

"You bet he did, and he couldn't ask for anyone better, could he?"

Panther chuckled.

"Certainly not, darling."
"So is she a member of Star Wolf or is she just tagging along?" Marcus asked.
"Not like you need to know that."

The Iron Maiden swooped in over Marcus, the latter of whom could see Coyote giving a hand single that translated to "Private comm line". Marcus switched the channel on the line so that only he could hear her.

"She's a stripper."

They switched the channels back before anyone noticed. Marcus smirked.

"Y'know, somehow that doesn't surprise me. Ah, well. At least he'll stop trying to get with my mom…right?"

With the introductions out of the way, Panther and Sierra swerved off to one side with the former charging up his insanely powerful Zapper Cannon and letting loose to down five flying Aparoids in a single blast. The latter charged up her laser, but instead of shooting, she barrel-rolled and encased her wings in the plasma as she slammed them into the giant bugs, sending them careening away.

"Watching you kill these sons of bitches like this is just incredible." Panther said seductively.

"I should say the same for you, baby." Sierra giggled.

"Oh, great." Chase groaned. "You're one of those couples that take public displays of affection to the next level. Just what we needed when we're in a freakin' firefight."

Putting the PDA aside, Marcus continued running towards the Nightstriker and was nearly there when a rather large Aparoid dropped in out of nowhere and let out a loud roar at him.

"Yeah, 'RAAARGH' to you, too, pal." Marcus said before sinking into a fighting stance with his staff at the ready.

The Aparoid moved only a few inches before three ships circled overhead.

"Take cover!" Dane yelled.

Marcus dove behind the nearest obstruction as Dane and the two troopers flying next to him bombarded the Aparoid with small missiles, sending it hurtling into the base wall nearby.

"Fine shooting, sir!" said Marcus.

"Likewise to your dodging, son!" Dane beamed in response. "Now get in that tank and show 'em what that kind of firepower can do!"

"With pleasure."

Marcus jumped into the cockpit and started the Nightstriker up. He pushed forward on the steering control and found that even though it was bulkier, it actually moved faster than it did before. Not to mention it had a better rate of fire, proven when Marcus began unloading giant globes of plasma onto the unsuspecting bugs, including locking onto a group that was chasing Sierra and downing them before they could cause any major damage.

"Hey, not bad, honey!" Sierra cooed. "Too bad I'm taken…too bad for you, that is."

"And you are how old?"

"Twenty-eight."

"…and Panther's in his late forties?"

"Yeah."

"…and you don't see a problem with that?"

"Nope."

"Alright. Suit yourself…wait, what's this?"

Marcus had noticed a small button to his left that had a button labelled "emergency use only"…now what do most arrogant heroes normally do when they see something like that? Needless to say, our blue-furred hero did exactly what you think he'd do with it, shocking him when the cockpit began to compress in on him.

"Hey, what the f…" he started.

"Don't move, Mark!" Chase said excitedly. "It's just strapping you in."

"For what?!"

Marcus felt something lock onto his arms and legs as he found himself seemingly in a standing position while he could still see out the blast shield, what was strange was that he was now about twenty feet off the ground. As he moved his hands, he spotted two large metal arms perform the exact same movements in front of him.

"It's just like Tyler said, Mark." Chase said with a smug grin. "Giant mechs are friggin' awesome!"

Marcus smiled with joy. He'd always dreamed in his childhood of driving a giant mech after watching that Earth cartoon Transformers and the three live-action movies based off of it (two of which he thought were really cool, one he thought was just loud noises and special effects for the sake of loud noises and special effects). The fact that Chase had turned the Landmaster into something like that was just incredible and exhilarating. As Marcus moved his leg, the mech's leg moved as well. As Marcus turned his head, the robot did the same.

"Oh, hell fucking YES!"

This would be the part where you turn on "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath.

Marcus loved his legs quickly, causing the Nightstriker to run forward. As he threw out a punch at a large Aparoid, his giant robot cage did the exact same thing and sent the Aparoid careening away.

"Boom, baby! It's about to get hot in this joint!" Marcus cheered.

"Now THAT'S a sweet ride!" Anna said with an excited expression.

Marcus felt deeper into the arm sockets and realized that there were rings for each hand that he could slip his fingers into; two on the right and one on the left. Pulling on the one on the left, a small turret on the mech's arm began firing off at a very fast rate, allowing Marcus to clear off some of the Aparoids on the battlements above. The first one on the right was the standard plasma cannon, and the second one on the right was his smart bomb launcher.

"Okay. Time to kick things into high gear and flush these bastards out!"

"Mark!" called Bill. "We need to get inside the base and do a clean sweep of the Aparoids but they're blocking our way in! Think you can come clear the way for us?"

"No problem."

The Nightstriker ran toward the Husky unit, locking onto the bogies behind Anna and taking them down with a well-aimed bomb while it was at it. Marcus swung his arm and slammed it onto the ground when he came close to another patch of Aparoids, releasing a shockwave that sent them flying off in different directions. When he approached the spot where Bill had called him, a very large Aparoid suddenly appeared from behind a nearby battlement and grappled the Nightstriker from behind. Though the mech was certainly formidable in attempting to escape its grasp, the Aparoid clung on even when Marcus rolled forward or smashed the bug up against the wall.

"Piece a' shit, GET OFF ME!"

"Hang on, Mark!" Damalgo said. "Corneria's only archer to the rescue."

As it turned out, Damalgo had positioned himself on top of a battlement and had dug out the last weapon that anyone would expect him to use in this situation: his old bow from his time on Sauria.

"You can't be serious, Sharpclaw." said Panther. "You really think a puny weapon like that is going to kill a giant bug in one shot?"

"You ever see Hawkeye in The Avengers?"

"No."

"Then shut up and let me concentrate."

He loaded a single arrow up and aimed carefully. He breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth before pulling the string back as far as it would go without breaking.

"Okay…both eyes open. One swift stroke, no hesitation." he whispered as he let the arrow fly.

The small beam of iron and wood cut through the air at a breakneck pace until it reached the giant Aparoid, piercing the side of its head in an instant.

"Bullseye!" the Sharpclaw cheered.

"Hm…I stand corrected." Panther said. "Carry on."

The Aparoid fell limp on the ground and Marcus aimed his mech's right arm.

"Take cover, boys!" he yelled.

The Husky unit got out of the way as Marcus rained hell down on the bugs blocking them. With them out of the way, Bill's unit carried on inside.

"Okay, boys." he said. "Stay close and keep a sharp lookout."

"Man, this shit reminds me way too much of Aliens…" one of the younger soldiers said nervously.

"It'll be okay, rookie. Just keep your eyes peeled for any movement and shoot on sight."

As the Husky unit moved further into the base, the Nightstriker was grabbing Aparoids out of the sky and pummeling them into the ground or blasting them down with a charged shot or several turret blasts. Another large Aparoid came at Marcus from the front, which he simply grabbed and performed a pile-driver, severely shaking the ground upon impact.

"Easy there, Mark!" Chase laughed. "She may not be delicate, but you're gonna dent the frame if you do that!"

"You shittin' me? I'm having too much fun to really care!"

He wasn't having enough fun for the tingling in the back of his head to go unnoticed. She was coming…but where? No one seemed to be reacting strangely, especially not Chase. Marcus said nothing, not wanting to scare anyone who had already been afflicted by Kursed, but he stayed alert. He had to. Otherwise someone was in for a cold night in hell.

The foot soldiers led by Bill had gone through the base for several minutes, scanning every possible nook and cranny for any sort of movement, but there was nothing. Once they got to what appeared to be the heart of the base, they found something that most of them were hoping never to see, let alone see in action.

"Holy shit…" said the rookie who had made the crack about Aliens. "Is that…"

"Yeah, Avery." Bill said solemnly. "It's a hydrogen bomb."

Then came the voice. Marcus heard it and knew all at once that this whole thing was nothing but a trap. Kursed was going to kill again in the worst way possible.

"So glad you could make it, boys." she chuckled. "And to think that the party has even started. In fact, why don't we kick it off with a bang…quite literally. Best of luck to you."

Bill had seen in shock that the bomb had a timer on it, and once the voice had faded, it had begun counting down from five minutes.

"Oh, God, no!" he screamed. "EVERYBODY FALL BACK!"

"Grey!" Dane shouted. "What's going on?!"
'It's a trap! There's a nuke in here and it's gonna go off in five minutes!"
"Sweet Jesus H...all units! Fall back and don't stop flying until we're out of here!"

Every ship that was still outside U-turned and shot away as quickly as they could. Lylatian hydrogen bombs had blast radii that were known to cover at least three square miles, so they had a lot of flying to do if they were going to get out of there in time. What concerned Marcus the most, however, was Bill and his unit's escape. It had taken them well over five minutes to get to where they were, and even running all the way back wouldn't give them enough time…unless…

"Anne!" Marcus yelled. "Track Bill's location in the base!'

"What?! But…"

"Just do it! This is your father we're talking about!"

That wasn't to say Anna wasn't scared for her father's safety. What she feared was not being able to get a single on him through the walls of the base. Nevertheless, she flipped a few switches and began trying to get a lock on Bill's communicator. She started sweating in nearly in an instant and when it seemed like it didn't work…

"Got it! It's coming up on your radar now!"

The spot showed up on Marcus map and he ran to it.

"Panther! Shoot this spot with your Zapper!" Marcus ordered.

"You got it!"

The blue beam of plasma slammed into the steel frame of the base. Not enough to melt it, but enough to weakn it and allow the Nightstriker to punch right through the ceiling.

"Everybody in the cargo hold! Now!" Marcus shouted to the bewildered soldiers.

They didn't think twice about it and began climbing the mech's arm until they dropped into the expanded cargo hold.

"Please tell me this thing has rocket thrusters, Chase."

"Yes! By your left thigh!"

Marcus hit the button his knee. Sparks flew from the Nightstriker's feet before it raised its arms like a JACK robot (think Tekken) and flew high into the air, following the still escaping fleet.

"Phew…" Bill sighed. "I'm never doing anything like that again."

It was still quite crowded in the cargo hold, but not so much that Bill couldn't see everybody.

"Sound off!" he ordered.

He heard a name called out working backwards according to rank, from Corporal York to Sergeant Jefferson to…

"Hang on…where's Private Avery?!"

A panicked voice echoed on everyone's communicators and filled them to the brink with pure dread.

"What the…who the fuck are you?" Avery shouted.

The bone-chilling giggle of Kursed replied.

"A sign that you might wanna start running."

"Wha…AAAGH!"

"AVERY!" Bill shouted over what sounded like a great weight collapsing on the other end.

Before anybody could react, Dane turned his ship around.

"Commander, where are you going?!" Chase shouted.

"No soldier gets left behind, especially not a rookie. Get that transporter do-hickey ready to warp Avery out of here, Toad!"

"…affirmative, sir."

Dane piloted back down into the base and jumped from his ship instantly, readying his rifle.

"Private!" he called. "Where are you?!"

"Commander…over here…help me!"

The scene was even worse than Dane had imagined. A beam had collapsed from the shaking ceiling and had pinned Avery to the ground, so much so that it was impossible for him to get out on his own.

"Hold on, son! You're gonna be alright, but you've gotta help me with this."

Dane grabbed the beam, and Avery tried the best he could to do the same.

"Alright! Now push!"

The two men pushed as hard as they could, struggling slightly before the beam steadily came off and gave Avery time to wriggle free.

"Good work. Can you walk?"
"Yeah. I'm fine."

"Good. Let's vamoose!"

The two turned to get back through to the exit, only to meet with Kursed.

"Hello, boys. Fine evening for a nuclear disaster, isn't it?"

"Who in Grimm's name are you?"

"Not important. Tell me, Commander Dane: are you afraid to die?"

He knew what she was getting at, rushing forward and roundhouse-kicking her aside before turning to Avery.

"Go! Now!"

Avery didn't want to leave Dane behind, but the tone in his superior officers voice told him he had no other choice. He kicked off of Dane's ship and climbed up out of the hole just in time for the Great Fox to lock onto him and beam him up to its bridge.

Dane smiled, but the relief turned to anguish when he felt a harsh pain in his lower body. He crumpled to the ground with a loud scream before looking up at Kursed. Kursed herself was smiling and holding something that made Dane sure that this was it.

"Better shake a leg, Dane." she said before smirking. "Heh. I crack myself up sometimes."

Kursed vanished and Dane's severed leg dropped onto the ground. He looked up at the sky above him as the base steadily began to quake more and more. Despite the calamity going on, he couldn't help but realize how beautiful space really was.

"With the stars shining down on me like angels from Heaven…I couldn't ask for a better way to die."

"Commander, what's going on?!" Marcus yelled. "Respond!"

"Are you all out of range of the blast?" Dane asked.

"Wha…yes, but…"
"Good. Then I guess it's goodbye."

"No! You can't give up! Your family's at home waiting for you!"

Dane smirked.

"I never had any children, Marcus, and my wife died in the Angler Blitz. Don't feel bad for me. God's taking me to see her now. Just promise me that you and everyone else is going to stop that woman at whatever she's trying to accomplish."

"Dane…I will"

"My friends…thank you."

The last minute on the bomb ran out, and a blinding light erupted from the horizon.

"COMMANDER!" Marcus screamed.

Nothing but static. The light cleared, leaving behind a devilish mushroom cloud slowly rising into the sky as the debris from the base rained down to the ground. Everyone looked on in shock and despair at what had happened. Commander Dane had just committed the noblest act any man could ever have done. He had been begging for death for so long and this was how the reaper chose to take him out of the galaxy he loved so much.

"This battle needs to end." Bill said. "We can't let anything like this ever happen again."

"This isn't a battle anymore, Bill." Marcus said, his heart nearly bursting with anger. "It's a motherfucking war!"

Dane's funeral was held a few days after the incident. He was honoured as a hero who gave his life to save another. That other life didn't show up to the funeral or any battle after that. Bill concluded that Avery had been overcome with guilt and had gone AWOL as a result.

While normally this would be considered a federal offense that could be punished with up to three years in prison, Bill, his platoon, and even Peppy said that they would have done the same.

Let me tell you: it really hurt writing down Dane's death. I consider myself extremely sensitive, so when a character that I've grown to love dies, it feels like a loss (looking at you, "Skyfall"). Also, while I'm indifferent to Call of Duty, that nuke thing was inspired by one of the missions from Modern Warfare 1 because of just how effective it was. It still shocks me just how far we're willing to go to set things straight in the world.

Coming out of the depressing bit, I've gotten some votes on the poll I've got on my profile, but both selections are currently tied. Therefore, if you love this story and you haven't voted already, I'd really appreciate it if you go check it out ("He's whoring again!"). It'll be worth it, I promise.

SOUNDTRACK SO FAR

Krystal's nightmare- "Parabola" by Mer (Originally by Tool)

Marcus versus Coyote (friendly)- "Name of the Game" by the Crystal Method

F-Zero race- "F-Zero Medley" by Entertainment System

Space pirate attack- Space pirate theme from Metroid Prime

Ridley- Ridley's theme from Metroid: Other M

Falcon takes down Ridley- "The Meaning of truth" by Hiro-X

The date- Ilia's theme from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Coyote versus the shadows- "The Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson

The star Lylat- Magmoor Caverns theme from Metroid Prime

Marcus and Fox- "Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd

Fox versus Kursed- "Du Hast" by Rammstein

Marcus and Coyote versus Nightmare- Nightmare's theme from Metroid Fusion (ArcX version)

The Nightstriker- "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath

The death of Commander Dane- "Mad World" by Gary Jules