A/N: Sorry about the incredibly late post all, but, times are rough. I'll have another up asap, and i promise to post on some other stories as well. In the mean time i hope you enjoy the chapter and I look forward to hearing you input. Thanks for all the support and you guys are the best...

The Footsteps in the Darkness ~ SkullFox



Chapter 18: Setting up the Fan…

The young white vixen was led to her own small room where she found a number of suits of clothing laying on a large canopy bed. After a moment of going through them she quickly made up her mind. The outfit she selected was a slightly long, dark blue, strapless gown it's length was cut at an angle up from her right ankle toward her left knee, though the neck was cut a bit lower than she would have liked showing a bit more cleavage than she'd hoped, though it showed the least of the four that they had left for her. She fixed her slightly long hair into a long braid that she draped over her shoulder. She looked herself over in a tall mirror, and sighed. She'd have given anything to have Fox see her like this, she'd have given anything to see the look on his face, even she could say that she looked beautiful, but, for some reason she didn't feel it right now…

"Why do I feel like dirt?" She asked herself as she slid a small knife into a holster on her hip under the dress, "well who cares, after this is all over he'll be dead, Fox'll be free and everything can go back to the way it was before. Let's get this over with."

The vixen found herself led through the building until she found herself standing before a large table covered with a white cloth, and a massive spread of food much larger than anything she'd ever seen before in one place. Sitting across from her current position was none other than the ape that had thrown her entire life into chaos; nothing in her entire life had been more difficult that maintaining the cocky smile she kept on her face at that moment, every instinct in her body told her to simply draw her knife and be done with it but, there was no way that he didn't have some sort of protection in place just in case the unreliable bounty hunter could have been hired by someone to knock him off. However, Andrew spread his arms …

"Welcome…" He said, "…please have a seat, there are many things that I would like to discuss with you."

The vixen didn't waste any time sitting down, after all, even with her current state of having a hard time with her telepathy she could see deep enough into his mind to know that none of the food was tainted, and she'd not eaten a decent meal in some short while…

"To what exactly do I owe this…" She paused picking a few things and placing them on the plate before her, "…honor?" She finished.

Andrew chuckled, "It was about my offer partially, but first I would like to know more about you. Where do you come from first of all?"

The vixen sighed it was clear what he was trying to do, he wanted her background, to know that she could be trusted and this was the one opportunity that she'd have to get on his good side, "Rittera…from a town so small we never really called it anything but Town."

Andrew nodded, "I see, that would explain quite a bit," He said, "most people living on Rittera are not registered in the Lylatian chamber of records, mainly because nobody around there seems to care. How did you come to this current occupation?"

The vixen sighed as she swirled some of the food around on her plate, "Well…that was all a family affair. See I used to be a simple, happy woman; had a family, a life, everything a decent woman could ever want…" She said, "then this little thing happened. See this creep of a person decided that my happy little family needed to die, not sure why…" She said sticking a fork in a thick steak on her plate before picking it up, "I turned myself into this in order to kill them back, after they were all gone this ME decided to stick around. I can't say that I really miss the old me, she was weak."

Andrew smiled a bit at he leaned forward, "I find it hard to picture you as being weak."

Kursed sighed, "Well…I'll take that as a compliment," She said, "was there something else?"

Andrew chuckled, "Yes actually," He said, "see there is this little…get together…"

Kursed chuckled, "You mean execution." She cut in.

The ape laughed out loud, "Yes, in fact…" He said, "…what would you say if I said that we were going to kill Fox McCloud, in Cornerian Central Downtown Plaza…"

"Hmm…" The vixen mused, "…I'd ask why you thought it was so important that you told me this in private."

Andrew smiled, "Well…I can see in your eyes that you wish to prove yourself that you are loyal to my cause," He said, "I intend to give you a chance. Since you are so used to killing, I guess you wouldn't mind taking off a few heads as a public executioner."

Kursed eat for a moment before taking a sip from the cup near her plate, "I'd have no problem with that…" She said, "…actually, I'd be honored. After all how many chances do you get in one life to kill someone famous in front of all his little fans? And as for your earlier offer," She said smiling, "I'm still thinking on it. My life isn't just something I intend to give up."

Andrew smiled, "I never meant for you to give up your day job," He chuckled, "I simply was trying to point out that I could provide a much better, easier life for you…a little loyalty would be a fair price to pay I think."

Kursed chuckled, "I still must say that this is a very," She paused, "unusual proposal."

Andrew nodded, "Well that wouldn't be the case had you not basically torn my executioner in half."

Kursed smiled as she leaned back in her chair, "Well if your little friends hadn't pushed me they'd still be alive."

"Well…" Andrew said, "…Verra may have called for it but…." He paused, "…well no, I'm almost certain that Panther pushed the line as well. I can't hold it against you for wanting to protect yourself. Anyhow, if we could simply put this all aside, please enjoy yourself."

Katt paced about the floor in her cell, though she'd been awake for some time now many of the other animals in the hall seemed to be either asleep or unconscious. She stopped in front of the blue light screen that served as the door to her cell, touching it lightly getting a shock that caused her to jerk away her paw shaking it to recover her nerves from the electric shock she'd received. She looked back to the red furred vixen that lay on one of the Murphy's beds in the room, as she looked over Jamie it was clear she'd put up a fight when the soldiers had brought her in; the fur of her face was matted with dried blood and her clothes had tears from some sort of struggle. It was as the feline sat in the bed across from her leaning against the wall that someone finally said something…

"Katt?" The familiar voice asked, "issat you?"

The feline smiled with a relieved sigh, "Reiko…are you alright?"

The coyote groaned a bit, "Yeah, I think. They hit me with some sort of tranq back there…" He replied, "…they really pumped Creed full of it, he's still laying here."

Katt sighed as she closed her eyes, "Reiko…" She said, "…you keep going out of your way to protect me, why?"

There was a long pause from the other side of the wall, "I know this might come off a little wrong but," He paused again, "I promised McCloud that I'd look after you and Lucy, but, over the past few years…" He sighed with frustration, "…god why is it so hard to say this to you?"

There was another long pause, "Listen…I think about you, almost every day, every night. I can't stop thinking about you…and…and I don't think I really want to. I guess it's a little easier saying this now…cuz I'm a little afraid of dying without letting you know that…I love you."

Katt sighed as she rested her cheek against the wall, "Reiko…" She half whispered as a tear rolled down her face, "…I'm scared, I don't want to die in a place like this."

The coyote sighed deeply, "I'm not gonna let that happen Katt…I'll find a way out of this I promise."

After another silence the pink feline sighed, "Reiko…"

"Yeah?" He rpelied.

"I…I love you too."

There was a long silence that fell over the area as she lay there, before something strange caught Katt's eye; almost like a distortion in her vision where a small patch of the wall was wavering and blurry. She concentrated a bit, but, the spot was fairly still and shaped strangely, but, it suddenly shifted causing her to approach the bars that kept her inside. In a few moments the blurred patch seemed to approach her…

"Is Jamie in there with you Miss Monroe?" A light voice asked.

Uncertain about what was going on she simply nodded, "Yeah," Katt replied looking back into her cell, "she hasn't moved but she's still breathing."

The image moved a bit, "Well…she always did have a weak tolerance to sedatives," The voice said as a portion of the image passed through the bars, "Samara…I'm going to bust you all out of here, but, it's going to have to wait until everyone's awake. Jamie called me just before Kursed brought her in here, she let me in on everything. From what I heard Kursed and O'Donnell are working together to take down Andrew, I can play my hand into that…but, we're going to be playing this all pretty close to the chest."

Katt realized what was going on as she shook what she was certain was the stranger's paw, she felt only soft fur and a strong grip, "Is there any other news? Andrew says we're all gonna be executed."

The blur sighed, "Yes, you're all scheduled to be killed tomorrow, apparently there is a good number of you. All of you in here are going to be hanged, Fox McCloud is going to be beheaded by Andrew himself, and from what I heard all the resistance fighters with Star Fox are going to be shot after being forced to watch the public display."

"And what's this about Jamie being a McCloud?"

"Oh that old story…" Samara said as there was a small sound at the far end of the corridor, "…just ask Jamie when she wakes up. She'll tell you everything…just try to stay collected, I have to go."

The image seemed to back up a bit before leaping up through a small vent, proving that this person had an incredible jumping strength. It was as she stood there that a shaggy looking canine soldier stopped in front of Reiko's cell, "You…" He said pointing a baton that doubled as a tazer into the cell, "…General O'Donnell wants a word with you."

Though she didn't like admitting it Kursed enjoyed the meal, though the company lacked any sort of interest whatsoever. She found solace in the large room that Anderw had set aside for her however, a massive room that seemed a little overdressed for a single female. It was however as she stood there looking into a huge mirror that the vixen realized why the room was so large, so that it would diminish the thought that the sick ape was watching. She kept looking into the mirror before she cut her eyes across the room in both directions, the cameras were really well placed, especially for capturing the female that stayed in this room in the bed. The vixen smiled, if nothing else she could at least screw with his head a bit; seeing as there was a camera at the center of the mirror she smiled running her fingers through her hair as she brought her fingers into the straps of the dress that hung from her shoulders, pulling it down over her chest where she paused for a moment and lightly dusted some lint off of her lace bra. She paused for a moment before turning about and bending over causing her tail to arch up over her back as she pushed the dress down to her ankles making certain that her well shaped backside was in perfect view of the camera. Being a female bounty hunter in a society dominated by males, the vixen had learned that her assets rested in more places than just her mind, she could manipulate a male's ego with the lightest wave of her tail or shake of her hips, or even an accidental flash of her breasts. She finally wiggled her body a bit to finally get the dress completely off. She turned back toward the mirror where she stretched her back causing her chest to bulge as the muscle beneath pushed her breasts out much further than usual. With a relieved sigh she turned about and headed for the bathroom; she almost gasped as she saw it, the tub looked like some sort of a small personalized swimming pool, something the likes of which she'd have bathed in on Cerinia where communal bathing was a normal thing. Not paying any mind to whether or not there were any more cameras in this room, she abandoned her undergarments at the door before stepping into the large, peculiar looking tub that seemed like no more than a large squared impression in the center of the large room. However as she stepped into the impression a fine rain of pleasantly warm waters began to fall from the ceiling while small jets filled the tub to a point, and a set of openings near the top kept any sort of overflow from ruining the beautifully tiled floors. She sank into the waters until only her head remained above the water's surface, where she lifted her leg from the waters and began to wash her fur a few short inches at a time…

Andrew sat at his desk, a bathing white furred beauty that was sensually washing a small portion of her fur at a time rested on the screen in front of him. His eyes sat wide, while his mouth hung open. Was she aware that she was being watched and simply tormenting him? Or was this simply how such a creature bathes? Taking explicit detail to every inch of her magnificent form. It was as he sat there struggling to see the more intimate details of her body, as the current angle of the camera was positioned behind her head which hung over the edge of the tub covering all but her face and the one leg she held up over the water. A shorter soldier had somehow slunk in behind him at this point, primarily because of the fact that his attention was utterly devoted to the vixen on the monitor…

"She is absolutely breathtaking…" The Ape uttered, "…I have never felt such maddening attraction to a female."

The ringtail that stood behind him placed a paw on his shoulder, "Good luck, Sir," He said, "she knows you're watching her…" He shook his head with a light whistle, "…I'm willing to bet she's a beast in bed, but, someone like his isn't interested in finding a mate Emperor…she's after something else, and she'd give anything to get her hands on it I'll tell you that much."

Andrew scratched his chin, "What is it that she is after though? That is the question…" He replied, "…I would pull the very stars from the sky for her if she'd only ask, but, at the time there seems to be nothing but her job on her mind…"

The raccoon sighed tentatively as the vixen shifted bringing her bare breasts into full view of the camera for a brief moment, "Whew…" He called, "…the things that I would do her would make me a hero on Rittera. Just think on it Sir. Everyone wants something and her job is not what she wants, hobby maybe…" He paused for a moment, "…there's something out there that she wants more than anything else…fuck just ask her, never know she might just tell you."

Andrew rubbed his chin in thought for a moment before turning to face the soldier, "Soldier what is your rank?"

The coon stiffened up saluting, "Um…sir. Staff Sergeant Mayes, Sir."

Andrew turned about filling something out before passing it to the soldier, "Umm…Sir?" The soldier asked.

"Take that to your superior," He said, "from now on you'll be working for me directly."

The raccoon chuckled, "Um…can I ask what I'll be doing, Sir?"

"Adviser to the Emperor…" Andrew quickly replied, "…you have a wisdom about you that most people in this dreary little system are lacking horrendously. Now tell me what it is you think this one seems to want."

The raccoon was stunned by his generosity but looked to the screen, "Well she's definitely high maintenance, can tell that just by the way she walks, talks, and even takes a bath, every detail has to be just right," He said, "she has some sort of a grudge against someone, not sure who but, you can see it in her eyes every time she looks at a male…wouldn't doubt it if she had a mate that someone killed. Whoever she's got this grudge against…hand him over and she'd probably fuck yer brains out."

Andrew thought for a moment, "How good are you at gathering information?"

Mayes grimaced, "Not very, Sir. But I do have a guy in C company that can find just about anything."

"Good…" Andrew replied, "…have your 'guy' look up everything he can find on this vixen. Real name, homes in the past few years, relationships, anything you can find."

The raccoon bowed as they watched the vixen finally wrap herself in a towel, "Yes, Sir. I will get right on that."

Kursed looked at herself in the mirror as she hastily dried herself off and dressed herself in no more than a pair of black lace panties, they kind she'd been wearing for years, and an almost transparent gown that hung from her shoulders reaching just short of her naval, a nightie that had been provided to the room, it was soft against her fur and smelled magnificent. However, it made her feel guilty being pampered like this while her friends were all sitting in a prison cell. She had her plans but, knowing that she was being watched the very least she could do was tease her onlooker, hoping that the added stress of 'look but don't touch' would cause him to slip up at some point. All she could do at the present moment in time was lay in the massive bed and wait for the lusting ape to pull his eyes away from his sick little cameras…

As she lay there in that unbelievably soft bed, there came a light sound that roused her from her sleep only to find that there was nothing there. As she lay back down however, something trailed up her leg, it was a very soft feeling and was quite pleasant, however she suddenly gasped as she felt something wet and warm slide across her exposed womanhood, causing her to firmly grasp the bedding and letting out a silent moan before it worked up her body, finally causing a familiar chestnut furred head to exit the blankets between her sumptuous breasts. There was a bright smile looking at her with deep jade eyes, her eyes welled with tears as she reached down to him pulling him up into a deep, passionate kiss, the likes of which she'd only hoped she would share with him…

"Fox…" She said as she broke their kiss, "…how did you get in here? And what are you doing?"

The vulpine chuckled, "Wolf smuggled me in," He said, "said that he could buy us a little time before this all gets out of control," He said as she felt his strong warm paws grip her breasts tightly causing her to gasp, "I've wanted this ever since I first met you."

The vixen smiled deeply kissing him again before pushing his head back beneath the blankets; she didn't know why but, the thought of mating with Fox had always been in her head, since shortly after meeting him. It was understandable, after all he was strong, handsome, smart…he was much more than the males that had courted her on Cerinia, and was far more in her eyes than any male she'd met in Lylat. It was as this thought went through her head that she suddenly arched her back letting out a shrill scream as her paws went to the lump between her thighs strongly gripping at the vulpine's ears through the blankets before settling on her back again, where she found herself looking into those eyes again, as there was an unfamiliar but, knowing look on his face. He nuzzled the side of her neck gently whispering "I love you", before he rocked himself forward causing the vixen below him to arch her powerful back lifting him off the bed as their sexes merged. She quickly reached her arms around his neck pulling him tightly into her as her back fell back to the bed, she tried to tell him the things that she'd always wanted to but, every time she managed to say the word "I" another lunge of Fox's body shot a wave of exstacy through her body causing her to only call out his name. Her breathing and heart rate became erratic, as she could feel her body feeling as though it were conforming with his, while her paws trailed over his strong arms and down his back …

Suddenly the pale vixen shot upright in her bed sweating furiously, it had been over a year since the last time she'd had such a dream, but they were becoming frequent and on Cerinia that only meant one thing…she was reaching her sexual maturity; and judging by her dreams it seemed to her mind that she'd already selected a suitable mate, even if not done so consciously it would seem that her mind and her body as well were both in agreement that Fox was the perfect ideal for such a thing. Even so as she hung her feet over the edge of the bed, she could feel her heart still racing, everything about the dream was so, visceral, so much so that she could still feel the combination of his sweat and her own on her fur and could still smell the musky air of their actions. Finally she slipped out of bed before walking to the balcony where she looked out into the city itself. It was looking out at the city that inspired thoughts of Fox again. Finally, unable to take it anymore the vixen made her way to a small communication port on the desk on the far end of the room where she sat down making certain that her blouse hung down far enough to put a nice portion of her breasts into view, before pressing a button on the desk causing a small green screen to produce the rather shocked face of the planet's current emperor…

"Good evening Emperor…" She smiled, "…I was wondering if it would be too much to ask that I might speak with all of these executions before hand?"

Andrew's attention stayed where she needed it, glued to her nearly exposed breasts, "Um…yes of course," The ape said, "I'll pass word to the guards…um…" he fully paused as her gown fell a bit on the left side causing a bit of her right nipple to fall into view before she quickly pulled the gown up.

"I apologize for my appearance…" She chuckled pulling the shoulder strap up, "…this thing doesn't fit quite as well as I'd like it to. I will go and speak with them now…thank you, I apologize for bothering you at such a late hour."

"Oh it was no bother at all…" Andrew replied sighing heavily as he turned the communicator, "…now…what in the world was I just doing?"

It took almost forever for the vixen to find her way down to the basement of the building where small holding cells were kept up for treason to the planet government of Corneria. It was an insult keeping Fox in such a place. As she made her way down into the depths of the tower the pale vixen, looked from cell to cell until she stopped and gasped as she looked into a particular cell. Against the back wall was a familiar sight; a well built chestnut furred fox, his old white uniform from the Wraiths was tattered and loosely hung from his body, as well his rather fluffy tail showed a bit through the torn bandages that had wrapped it earlier; his head hung loosely and she could see now that his hair had grown out somewhat, managing a small tail that hung over his shoulder. She stood there for a moment causing him to cut his eyes at her…

"I…" He groaned, "…I perferred your real fur color…" He lightly chuckled.

The vixen stifled her laugh as she stood there, "Why aren't there any cameras here?"

The imprisoned vulpine sighed, "He doesn't care…with all the guard…there's no escape."

The vixen lay her hand on the small opening in the door that was set by several small bars, "I thought you were dead. You should have said something…" She said looking to the ground, "…then this wouldn't have happened."

Fox shook his head, "Don't lie to yourself…" He said, "…if you were found with me he would have just realized who you really are and killed you."

Kursed sighed, "Did they bring Slippy in here?"

"No I imagine they're keeping him with the others…Andrew never did respect his intelligence."

The vixen thought for a moment but sighed she didn't want to say anything but she needed him to expect it, "Fox…I'm working with Wolf O'Donnell, we're going to set up an escape but, I need your help to do it."

"O'Donnell? What's he care?"

Kursed shook her head, "More than you know. He hates Andrew with a passion…and right now he should be filling in Reiko with the details."

Reiko chuckled unrelievedly as he stood by listening to O'Donnell's story, it seemed a bit far-fetched but, if it was a lie why would O'Donnell have taken him out of his cell in order to tell it to him? As he stood there his eyes kept looking for an exit, it was a small blank room and that along made him feel uncomfortable as the only person other than himself was a General of Andrew's that simply claimed he was working with Kursed, then again if he wasn't, how would he know that she was actually Krystal? Finally the dark furred coyote heard what was left of what Wolf had to say and sighed…

"So that's it huh?" Reiko asked, "that's you and her big plan? Sounds a little on the risky side."

Wolf rolled his eyes, "You could always just sit there and watch when they bring the axe down on Katt first…you know he's gonna kill all former Star Fox members before he get's to you right?"

Reiko nodded, "Fine…what do I need to do?"

"I'll be back before morning…"

With that he led Reiko out into the halls, "Look I know you don't have a love of any kind for me, nobody in this star system does, and I deserve that…" Wolf said as he looked to Reiko for a second, "…but, there hasn't been a day I haven't regretted what I did to Fox. So when the hammer does come down on Andrew, I won't be around to see what part of it falls on me. For now though…" He said stopping by the cells, "…at least I can do something right…" He said allowing the coyote to step into the cell and walking away.

As Reiko watched the wolf leave the area a pair of arms swung around the coyote's neck from behind, causing him to quickly turn about embracing the pink feline tightly, "Katt…" He said, "…why?"

"I don't know…" Katt replied, "…when you left a guard pulled Creed into my cell and moved me over here. Said that Wolf ordered it." She said pulling back and looking at him.

"But what…"

"Reiko…" Katt cut him off with a chuckle, "…shut the fuck up and kiss me already before someone moves me back."

As their lips met Reiko felt the feline's weight give in to him pushing him against the bars of the cell, there was no real way of telling her how long he'd wanted this moment, and now that he was in it…he knew that it would all end far too soon…

Wolf walked out into the open leaning up against the corner of the building and crossing his arms as he paid no real attention to the soldier on the opposite end of the corner who stood in the same position…

"I do the right thing back there, D?" The lupine asked.

The soldier removed his helmet for a moment brushing back his long hair, the black furred fox quickly put the helmet back on however, "O'Donnell that was about all the right I've ever seen you do." He chuckled.

Wolf laughed, "Huh…no kidding. Well at least he'll be having some fun tonight. You get the key?"

Dravyn chuckled spinning a key ring around on his index finger, "Of course I did…you doubt my slide of hand?"

Wolf chuckled, "Not at all…" He said, "…the armory is unguarded for about five minutes every night, once you've got the opening get in there, get what we need and get out."

"You got it…" Dravyn replied, "…and Wolf…I left one of my fighters just outside the city to the north, once the shit hits the fan get out of here as fast as you can."

As Dravyn walked off Wolf chuckled, "You don't have to tell me twice…" He said looking up to towards the still lit floors of the tower with a sigh, "…this shit is gonna be big. I just hope we've got a big enough fan."