"NononoNONONO JAMES, DON'T YOU DARE!"
James can hear Jody screaming at him in his earpiece, but he doesn't even comprehend it as he sees his window of escape closing. The ship charges up beneath him until it's vibrating vigorously. Once the ship is all charged up, he shoots his machine through the closing bay door, and launches into deep space. He knows that the station is probably in a wrecked state right now from the energy blast, but he's not taking any chances, as maybe they have some ships outside the station, ready to pursue him. He keeps the throttle going, and flies through the void of space, faster than the speed of light, whizzing by planets and stars, and trying really hard not to plow into anyone.
Eventually, he looks at his radar and slows down. No one seems to be following him. Either he gave them the slip or there was never anyone able to pursue him in the first place. He keeps the ship moving, but now at an autopilot pace so he can relax a little bit. "Alright, nice job fellas, that's a quarter-billion space credits in the bank."
Zoda chimes in, "Yea, you never mentioned how we were going to split that money."
"Mmmmm… maybe the captain can take a quarter and you six can split the last 75 perAHHHHHH!", he yells out as Jody screams into his earpiece, making him yank it out reflexively.
"What was that?", Jack asks.
"Jody sounds like she's about to blow a gasket", he says with a little chuckle.
"Why?", he replies.
"If I had to guess, something something innocent lives or whatever."
"Innocent lives? What did you do back there?"
"If you don't already know, don't worry your pretty little head about it."
Just then, Jody storms into the cockpit, with more rage in her eyes than any of her fellow competitors have ever seen. "Nice job, Jody", Zoda says with a cheeky little grin and a slow clap, knowing she's about to explode.
Jack adds in, still a little confused, "Yea, we got our first…"
"Can it, you two! Do you have any idea how many innocent lives you just put in danger? ("Called it") That space station was full of normal, everyday people, just doing their jobs, and you could've just blown up their home. Didn't you hear us talking about how the people there were just normal people doing their jobs?"
James sits there, listening to Jody talking, but not taking much of what she's saying to heart. "I did, but at the end of the day, they still work for Black Shadow, and they're doing so under their own volition. I'm not saying I'm gonna wipe 'em out for fun, but I'm also not going to prioritize their well-being over the mission at hand."
"Well you'd better start caring about that since you've got me here. You can't just go and break whatever laws you want just because it'll make your mission a little easier."
"Look, I get what you're saying, but before you go tattling on me to the principal, I want you to stop and just listen for a second", James says as he puts his hand to his ear, encouraging Jody to do the same. She's not interested in mimicking his actions, but she does try to listen for what he's referring to.
"I don't hear any…", Jody says before James hushes her, and keeps telling her to listen. This only infuriates Jody more, who's already on her last nerve. "What am I listening for, McCloud?"
"The sound of us getting shot by Black Shadow's troops!", he says in a more aggressive tone. "Let me know when you start hearing it. Look, your boss is paying me a lot of money to do this job, and he knows exactly the kind of tactics I employ. I do bad things, Jody, and I do them very, very well. So if you're gonna tag along with this whole thing, you'd better get used to it."
Jody's now almost snarling at James, ready to arrest him, but also knowing James might be right and that her commander might actually sign off on this lunatic's actions. "We'll see just how cocky you are after I report you to the chief", she says as she storms off and heads for his office to call her commanding officer.
"Hey, when you do, don't forget to include the fact that you aren't dead right now", he shouts down the hall at her, before sitting back in his captain's chair.
"You know you can probably stop her from using the communicator", Zoda says, "I'm sure this place has locks."
"I'm not worried about it. Let her tell him everything. That wasn't even close to the worst thing I've done on a mission, and I'm still not in jail yet."
Jack turns to Gazelle and asks, "Seriously, what did he do?"
Meanwhile, back on the now-wrecked space station, Blood Falcon limps to the communication room to get into contact with his boss. He types a few numbers into the keyboard, and right away, Black Shadow appears on the screen above him. "Sir, there's been a breach on the Zorok space station!"
"What? What happened? You look like you've been in a fight."
"Someone managed to get on board and extract a worker. Then they used a hyperdrive in the loading bay to escape. All of our attack ships were damaged in the blast, and we've been unable to pursue them."
Shadow gets angrier and angrier with each passing word, slamming his fist on his console as he hears that the perpetrators got away. "Let me guess", Shadow says. "They got the Doctor."
"Almost certainly sir. We still need to conduct a full headcount, but some people saw Dr. Stewart being stretchered down the main hallway. They thought he was having a heart attack or something, and didn't want to interfere."
Shadow thinks for a second, "Alright, we need to do a better job of preparing these people for another potential infiltration. See if you can track them down at least. And… don't worry about the Doctor for now. I have a little idea how we can get him back on our side…"
"What do you mean it's not a big deal?!", Jody asks Commander Atchwa, unable to believe what she's hearing.
With a nonchalant shrug, Atchwa replies, "I guess I should've filled you in more on what kind of work James does, but as long as he gets the job done, and doesn't endanger law-abiding citizens, then he's OK in the Federation's eyes."
Jody presses her palms against her temples in frustration and lets out a loud groan. "But these ARE law-abiding citizens, they weren't under Shadow's control. They didn't have the same goopy, black eyes that Dr. Stewart did. They were just… working for a boss who's boss's boss's boss just happened to be a criminal. That doesn't make them liable for his crimes, right?"
"I think it's a little naive to assume that they're unaware of who they're working for. I mean, you said Blood Falcon was talking to them, did they seem surprised to see him?"
"Well, no, but he was unmasked, and just went by 'Vice President Falcon', I didn't even know what he looked like until a couple of hours ago, so they certainly didn't."
Atchwa sighs and considers what she's saying. "We'll do an investigation into what his workers are like, but in the future, do know that the Federation has always given Mr. McCloud a good bit of leeway when it comes to these sorts of things. We don't want to have to arrest our best mercenary for something he's been doing for years."
"Believe me sir, I wouldn't be coming to you if he was double parking or something like that. Just… please let me know what you find out in your investigation", she says with a sigh.
"We can do that. What's the status of Dr. Stewart?", Atchwa asks, eager to change the subject.
Jody perks up a little, now that she isn't talking about imprisoning someone she once respected. "Still under the effect of the tranquilizer dart. I left him under the attention of Dr. Clash and Mrs. Arrow. He's stable, but we still don't know how to unhypnotize him."
"Mmmmm, see if Zoda has any knowledge on this sort of thing. I'd have to imagine someone like him would have experimented with hypnotism before, maybe he knows something about whatever this is."
"Yes, sir. Oh, by the way, we did manage to get a picture of all the people Shadow hasn't captured. It's basically just the seven of us, Capt. Tanaka, Pico, and Octoman. He seems to have either captured or knows the whereabouts of the other 18 racers."
"Mmmmmm, so you guys still have 17 more racers to find. And how soon does the next F-Zero season begin?"
"A little over four Earth months from now."
Atchwa takes a deep breath. "I don't know if that'll be enough time to find them all. I'll see if we can talk the F-Zero officials into delaying the season a bit, but they're a tough bunch."
"Um, attention everyone", Dr. Clash's voice bellows out from the intercom system. "Something big just happened in the medical bay, you're gonna wanna see this."
Atchwa nods, hearing the announcement. "Go on ahead. I'll find out what's going on with those workers, and I'll get in contact with James later on, and get him to tone it down a bit."
"So you do agree, he went too far, right?"
"That's not what I said, I'm just trying to make a healthy work environment for you two. That is all for now, Atchwa out."
The screen goes blank and Jody shakes her head in disapproval. Atchwa may not see how dangerous McCloud's actions were, but she does, and she's not about to just let him skim by unpunished. She walks out just as a few of the other racers walk or run by her.
McCloud slows down to gloat a little, already having a good idea about what Atchwa said. "Soooooo, Jody, how under arrest am I right now?", he says with a cocky smile.
"About 60%", she fires back. "I know what you did, and Atchwa has an idea, there's gonna be an investigation, and we'll just see what they find."
"I guess we will see, won't we."
James and Jody are the last two to enter the medical bay, and as they walk in, Dr. Stewart is sitting on the examination table, trying to get his bearings. He opens his eyes to look at Jody and James, and to her surprise, his bright blue eyes have returned.
"Jody… James… you're ok too!"
