A/N: Hey everyone, now for most i know this isn't my most popular fic, but, it's the only one that i find myself able to concentrate on here these last few days. I'll attempt to get something out there for 2nd Chances ASAP but, at the moment this is simply the best I've got. Thanks for the support and the patience...
The Footstep in the Darkness ~ SkullFox
Frag the weak, hurdle the Dead ~ Mykll
Back doors to problems lead to better results, and hidden treasures ~Jamie
Chapter 16: Victorious Failure….
Kursed wasn't certain why it was that she was feeling so angry as Jamie, Slippy, and herself, all made their ways slowly through the base, doing their best not to arouse any suspicions. Possibly it was the thought of Falco actually treating Slippy so poorly for all the bygone years; sure he'd always tormented the little toad, but, she'd never imagined that he was capable of actual torture. There was a possibility that, when the team was still whole, and she looked at herself five or ten years down the line, she had always imagined herself living a happy…normal life with Fox somewhere…a stable dream which the falcon clearly decimated. Or even more so than ruining her own little fantasy; it was the fact that, had she never promised Fox to stay out of her team mates' minds…she could have stopped this entire situation from happening. She wondered more than ever why it was that she felt this so strongly now, considering all the years she'd spent brooding over her misplaced hatred for the Wraiths. It was as they headed through the small base that Jamie noticed the deeply contemplative look on the pale furred vixen's face…
"Kursed?" She called not receiving a response, "HEY!"
The sudden shout from the crimson furred vixen holding Slippy up snapped Kursed's attention back to the mortal realm, "Jamie, not so loud."
Jamie sighed, "Look around you Kay," The sneaky little vixen said, "there's nobody here anymore."
Kursed thought for a moment, "Why would they abandon the base? Unless…" In a sudden realization the white furred vixen's pale blue eyes shot wide open, "…we have to go now!" She shouted rushing through the building, "Jamie we need our weapons they know where Reiko is they're gonna march on the satellite power center. I knew this plan was too good to be true…"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Jamie demanded as she struggled to keep up with Kursed.
"Look…" The white furred bounty hunter stopped, "…somehow they knew where your base was…right? They didn't find it by mistake or we would have had some sort of warning before they attacked. Andrew knew that someone would go to the base once they got a hold of Seven," She said, "in fact I wouldn't be surprised if he already knew that Seven was Fox. If that was the case he'd already know that I'd rush in here without thinking about it…"
Jamie bit her lip in sudden realization, "…and once Lylat's only real hope was going to be executed…Reiko. He was trying to force Reiko to send out that signal to the Revolutionaries…"
"Exactly…" Kursed said turning back around and allowing Jamie to lead her to their weapons, "…if that satellite doesn't come back online…that entire force we're depending on will slam into this planet and Lylat's only real hope will go up in smoke…while everyone's forced to watch Fox die…" She sighed, "…he always was good with calculations."
Slippy shook his head, "This was all just a set up? The Star Fox Revolutionaries are only supposed to be a last resort…if Andrew knew about it…that would mean that Falco has been working for that ape for years. Even during the Lylat Wars…" The toad turned his attention to Kursed, "…that son of a bitch. The bio-weapon on Venon, it was a set up. They were trying to kill off Fox and Andross at the same time…but, I'm betting Andrew didn't know his uncle placed that bio-weapon there and fled to Titania to continue his research."
"All this says to me is that we need to fuck'n hurry our asses up…" Jamie said, "…come on our gear is this way."
Miyu led Katt and Fay up along an old, abandoned access stairwell that led up the side of the old skyscraper that housed the ancient equipment they were after. Katt seemed to be keeping up just fine for someone recovering from a broken bone; but, then again the feline had always been unusually tough. Suddenly however, as they made their way to the twenty-seventh floor. A door at the side of the stairwell bent inward, as if it had been sticken by something powerful from the other side. The same impact hit the door a second time, causing Miyu to signal the two behind her to step back while she readied her blaster for whatever was trying to break into the stairwell. Suddenly the door burst open slamming against the wall beside it; and a quick shot from Miyu's blaster seared a hole in the wall just over a familiar dark gray furred coyote's ear…
"Son of a bitch!" Reiko shouted, "everybody's fucking shooting at me!" He yelled still attempting to catch his breath.
Miyu quickly put her weapon away, "What the hell? How did you get up here so fast?"
Reiko was doubled over, gasping for breath, "Main…stairs. Look I don't wanna ruin your day ladies but, there's a whole fucking squad of soldiers behind me. They're pissed, trigger happy, and trained. So if you wanna keep these lovely skins your wearin, get your asses up those stairs…" He half shouted pointing up the stairs, as Miyu and Fay rushed past him Reiko looked to Katt, "…sorry kid. Can't let you fall behind…I'd kinda like to keep you around a bit longer." He said offering her a moment to climb onto his back.
The feline wrapped her arms around the coyote's neck and Reiko looped his arms back around her legs before standing up and trotting up the stairs, "You know," Katt said looking over his shoulder, "if I didn't know any better I'd say you were hitting on my back there."
Reiko chuckled, "Maybe later…right now I'm just trying to keep our asses alive."
It seemed like it would take forever to simply catch up with Fay and Miyu, who were constantly several floors ahead of Reiko. Then again, he was also burdened with Katt's weight at the moment. He knew she could handle herself, but, at the moment speed was a bit more needed than gunfire and death. The stairs seemed like they'd continue on forever before the four of them finally burst through a door into a large room. Like the rest of the building the room was old and unused; there were what seemed like ancient computer terminals all about the room that were clearly meant to keep an eye on the satellite that circled the planet…
The LHTA satellite system was created long ago back before even Beltino and Peppy's time. Every planet and region had it's own individual satellite uplinked to the CHSA. Any ship moving at light speed could clearly see nothing in their path; it was through their ships' system connecting with these satellites that the ship would know when to pull out of light speed, before plowing into the planet itself. With the dust and garbage laid across the floor, it was only clear that Andrew had no intentions of turning the satellite back on here…then again, Zoness would have been the very last place he would have expected there to be a revolt…
As the four of them looked about the room, Reiko allowed Katt to slide off of his back, and quickly rushed to the door, wedging the door shut with the metal leg of a chair; before blockading it with several desks and another few chairs. Suddenly Miyu called him back…
"I found it…" She said activating her communicator, "…Jane how do I get this thing started?"
There was a moment of pause, "You've found it then? Good cuz we only have about twenty minutes. Now the format of the power core should look like a big ass circuit breaker system."
Miyu looked the large panel over as she pulled the door open, inside was nothing but a massive list of switches of varying colors and sizes…
"Yeah this is it then." Miyu replied.
"Good…" Jane's voice pointed out, "…first off there's a big black one labeled "primary circuit drive" make sure that's off right now or you'll fry the system and then there's no hope period…" She paused for a moment, "okay, now the circuits are subdivided into three sections; the primary relays, secondary relays, and the backup relays. Primaries are blue, secondaries are red, and blackups are black. Throw all the primaries to the on position…"
As Miyu followed the cheetah's instructions a loud slam against the barricaded door caused several chairs to fall from the pile, "Hurry up Jane."
"I am!" Jane shouted, "okay. This is important, on the blue ones, only throw the ones marked "main", "main router", and "main relay". On the black ones, only the "main relay converter switch". Then throw the Primary Circuit Drive back into the on position."
There was another loud thud causing more of Reiko's berricade to give, causing the coyote himself to begin pushing against it, "I don't wanna rush you ladies but…." He paused, "HURRY THE FUCK UP!"
"SHUT THE HELL UP REIKO!" Miyu yelled back following the cheetah's instructions.
As soon as she threw the large black breaker, the entire room began to light up as the place's power seemed to slowly crawl back to life…
"Okay leave the rest to me, this is only going to take about another minute." Jane's voice said over the communicator.
Suddenly Reiko moved his head to one side, barely managing to dodge out of the way of the bolt of purple light that punched a tiny hole in the door, "I don't think we have a minute…"
Suddenly a voice came from Reiko's pocket, "This is Jakob Mareth, we are currently receiving a signal from the LHTA satellite and will be entering the planet's atmosphere in little less than five minutes."
Reiko suddenly turned toward the ladies he was with, "Get out of here," He called, "fire escape now. I left a surprise for these fuckers downstairs."
As the three ladies made their way out of a nearby window that led out to a rickety old, rusted metal fire escape. Reiko rushed out behind them…to their surprise the coyote rushed to one side of the structure releasing the latter, leaving only the stairs that lead down. He looked about for a moment, seemingly studying the building across from them; and to everyone's surprise he quickly removed one of the large kukuri knives he carried from behind his back and wiped at the metal fittings that held the structure to the wall of the building, causing it to shake violently for a moment. He then rushed to the other end of the platform, causing Miyu to grab his wrist…
"What the hell are you doing!"
"It'll be fine…" Reiko said pulling his arm away from her, "…I saw this in a movie once."
Katt thought for a moment, "Did they live?"
Reiko chuckled, "Not all of 'em."
With that he swung his weapon into the metal harness again causing a bolt to fly loose; however, other than some more shaking the structure didn't move. Looking back to the room, the coyote noticed that the soldiers had almost gotten his berricade out of the way. In a last ditch effort however, Reiko ducked back into the room running toward the door before instantly turning back and rushing toward the window…
"Hang on to something!" He shouted leaping through the open window and against the rail of the fire escape.
The sudden shock of the coyote's weight slamming against the rail, caused the entire structure to move away from the building. It wavered for a moment, and let out a stressed groan as something far below gave way. Suddenly the fire escape began to fall toward the building across the way. As it fell, Reiko reached out pulling Katt into his arms, and as the metal structure slammed into the side of the building; they were sent soaring through a closed window, where Reiko landed on his back before rolling over onto the feline in his arms. He smiled a bit as he pushed himself up off his arms…
"Wow…that was pretty fuck'n painful." He said as he pulled himself up, before reaching down and picking up Katt.
"Where are Miyu and Fay?" Katt asked.
"WE'RE ON THE ROOF!" Miyu's voice shouted from outside, "REIKO YOU'RE A DEAD MAN!"
The coyote smiled as he pulled a small silver object from his pocket, flipping it's top off like a lighter revealing a small red switch, "Yeah, well so are they," He replied pressing the button with his thumb, "so long fellas."
Suddenly a pair of massive explosions caused the entire building to shake, as the windows seemed to burst inward from the resulting blast. Reiko, Katt, Miyu, and Fay all managed to get to the streets in time to see several of the soldiers trapped in the building diving out of the windows as there was no more fire escape for them to escape with. The four of them didn't even bother to watch the massive tower fall as they headed off…
"So…" Katt said as they walked away, "…how many people do you think were in there just now?"
Reiko laughed out loud, "Not enough…I just wish that son of a bitch Lombardi were here."
Suddenly the four of them stopped as a figure stepped out from an alleyway, "Funny…I was just thinking the same thing…hello Kitty. Fay, Miyu…I don't think I've actually gotten the chance to meet you yet," He paused as he stepped out into the open, where the blue feathered avian smiled, "Akuba Reiko right?" He chuckled shaking his head, "I gotta admit…I didn't see this coming. Never would have thought you'd take out an entire building but, then again you only needed that satellite up for a few seconds, and what….musta been up, three maybe four minutes? I wouldn't be surprised if your little Revolution showed up anytime now…" He said, "…Andrew want's the four of you to know, your teams…he'll spare all of you. Fuck he'll even give you nice, comfy jobs you'll never have to worry again. He's afraid of you guys, and I know why. You all remind me of Star Fox, you don't know when to quit, and you'd all rather die than give up what you're fighting for…" He said turning to the pink furred feline, "…what about you Katt? You…"
Falco was cut off as Reiko pushed Katt behind him, "Fuck off…" He huffed, "…a piece of shit like you doesn't deserve any kind of understanding, or mercy."
The avian chuckled nodding, "I see…aiming a little low aren't we Katt."
The feline rest her paw on Reiko's shoulder, "A lot higher than where I used to aim. At least I can trust these guys."
Falco shook his head, "Trust…" He chuckled, "…I'm gonna let you in on something Kitty. Look where trust got all of you, look what it did for Fox…" He said, "…do you think this was all a recent development? Andrew plotted this…from the very fucking beginning…true some things haven't gone the way they were meant to; but, he planned James's death, Andross's death…this was all like one big fucking game of chess to him. Even now you all had no idea that you were playing into his hand…didn't expect you all to actually signal the revs but…thanks to your little mole, you are all screwed."
Falco rose his arm causing each of the four animals to become covered in small red spots leading to the soldiers that were perched in every alleyway and on every rooftop nearby. He waited a moment until a young, attractive, light brown furred lapin approached them; she had slightly long blue hair, and wore a black leather vest with matching pants and boots…
"Hello ladies…" She said, "…sorry Miyu…he was just offering THAT much more money."
Miyu growled angrily, "Sahsa…"
"Don't tell me…" Reiko said, "…that's the girl we were waiting for?"
Falco suddenly snapped his fingers, "Alright boys, remember the drill alive and, relatively unharmed. Try not to break any bones…but, try to have fun. These four have a date with the Emperor…" He chuckled walking away, "…don't worry though, the big guy and the cheetah girl are already in custody…"
As Falco and Sasha walked away, the soldiers slowly closed in on the four animals, there truly was no way out, but, in the gives situation…what else could they do but surrender…
