Chapter 10
"What in the actual fuck?!" Wolf pointed at the image of Giichi on the bridge's main screen, his teeth flashing into a snarl. Even Leon seemed rattled by his shouting. "That brat was scheming against us the entire time?!"
Panther didn't hear Wolf. The jungle cat looked at the photo of Giichi, seeing the same playful smile the sand cat always had whenever the two of them met. But now it was different. Panther realized that golden smile hid deceit all along. Giichi tricked him into thinking he was making a new friend. Now he saw the lying glint in those bright green eyes, and could almost see the edges of the grin tugging upwards into a mocking, wicked curl. How could he have not noticed before?
"Giichi should still on the ship," Wolf muttered, looking off to the side. He spun around and jerked a finger at the security chief. "Roland! Put the Retribution on lockdown now! No one leaves! Get eyes on the hangar bays and escape pods! And start checking the cameras for him too!"
The warthog sitting at the security station jumped at the yelling, his glasses almost falling off his face from surprise. "Y-yes sir!" Roland fumbled to push the glasses back onto the bridge of his snout, turning towards the security cameras. He typed at rapid fire speed, squinting to look past the tusks on his face.
"I guess you were too much of a stupid dog to figure it out." Sable folded her arms on the screen.
Wolf turned back to Sable, looking very small in front of her picture. Being a member of the largest canine species, he stood a lot taller than most people on the Retribution. He often used it as a way to intimidate others, pointing his muzzle and ears up to enhance his height. But now he seemed to be on the receiving end of the same treatment. His ears turned backwards and his tail curled between his legs, head turned downwards instead of looking Sable face to face. Never before had Panther seen him so cowed before a client.
"I would be laughing right now if you weren't my only hope for obtaining that case." The panthress scoffed, putting on a sarcastic smile.
The case. Panther had been so caught up in the revelations about Giichi he'd forgotten about it. The whole time he worried about his illicit purchase of the Hyoodin, he wanted to strangle whoever was responsible for stealing that case away from them. Now it turned out one of their accomplices had always been right in front of him. He was such a fool, enraged at his own stupidity and at the person he thought was his friend.
Sable was talking to Wolf about something again, although Panther didn't hear the words. Hand wrapped around the grip of his holstered blaster, he turned to leave, striding towards the bridge's exit. Everything else disappeared from his mind as Giichi's deceiving grin came to the forefront, the image tinted red in his eyes. Only about ten minutes had passed since he'd left Giichi's cabin, so that backstabbing cat could still be there. That little yellow two-faced bastard just earned himself a shot to the kneecap, followed by a visit to Leon's little torture dungeon in the bowels of the ship. Panther usually shunned the chameleon's sessions there, although this time he intended to watch and drink in all of the moans and screams like they were sips of fine wine.
Panther ran through the ship's corridors, the journey nothing but a blur of gray walls to him. His echoing footsteps provided the only soundtrack, the ship still deserted since so many were down on Fortuna's surface hunting for the case. Running through the common area outside Giichi's room, he noticed it was empty, the gray canine sitting on the couch now gone. However, the same martial arts film still played out on the television set. Two monks in black uniforms walked through a monastery's garden, discussing philosophy or some shit.
Ready to dish out some vengeance, Panther drew his blaster as he reached Giichi's door. He swiped his universal keycard over the reader and pulled on the handle. It wouldn't budge. Snarling, Panther yanked again as hard as he could. No change. Swiping the keycard several more times produced the same result.
"Hey!" His radio squawked at him, Wolf's voice coming over it. "What are you doing down there Panther? I can see you on the camera."
He ignored his boss, still pulling in vain on the latch. Clomping boots echoed through the hallway. Looking up, he saw several men in heavy body armor round the corner, wielding handheld automatic blasters and shields. With all of them decked out in black, they looked like one formless dark mass advancing down the dim corridor, swallowing anything in its path. Panther ignored them, still tugging on the door with all his might. The door might as well have been a solid wall though.
"Get out of the way Panther!" Wolf said. "Let the security team handle Giichi!"
"No! I've got to do this myself!"
A strong hand clamped over his wrist, one of the guards pulling him away from the door with his much stronger grip. Within seconds the security team shoved him far out of the way, gathering around the door. They prepared to breach, taking positions on either side as one of them whipped out another keycard.
"Your key won't work!" Panther shouted. Why would it? He outranked them and had clearance to the entire ship.
But as soon as the guard swiped it, the door slid aside easily, the team rushing into the room within seconds. Panther's jaw dropped. That made no sense. How come they could enter but not him? Was there a glitch with the security system?
"Room's clear!" one of them called out. "No one's here, boss!"
On those words, Panther's heart skipped a beat.
"What?" Wolf said over the radio. "The security monitors showed Giichi going in there just a minute ago! He should be in there!"
"No dice, boss!"
Panther ran into the room after the security team, not wanting to believe it. But as he entered, his heart sank. Between himself and the four guards, they only had just enough room to all stand together in the cabin, since it was about the size of a walk-in closet. Giichi wouldn't even be able to fit in here without brushing against one of them. Panther turned towards the nearby wardrobe, the most obvious hiding spot. However, one of the guards had already opened it and ripped out all the clothes, showing it as empty. Panther looked up at the air vent, although that wouldn't have been a viable escape route. Even with Giichi's small frame, he'd be far too small to fit through there. The sand cat simply wasn't here.
Panther looked down, seeing the virtual racing cockpit sitting in the center of the room. He'd been sitting in that chair about fifteen minutes ago, having a fun time with Giichi playing a racing game. Was it only that long ago? It felt like a dream now. Panther gazed around the room again, hoping the sand cat might pop into existence if he looked hard enough, but it was no good. Feeling lost, he wandered out into the hallway. Where the hell would Giichi be now?
"Wait, did you check under the bed?" one of the guards said.
Panther took a sharp breath, hope rising again. He spun around, hurrying back as fast as he could.
"What's that?" A small snick sound came from inside the room, like a piece of wire getting snapped in two. "Oh shit!"
A flash of light erupted through the doorway, the explosion blinding Panther and sending him flying backwards. He slammed down on his back, flipping over and rolling down the hallway, the world going topsy turvy around him. His face lay pressed against the steel floor, multiple cuts and bruises screaming out across his body. A ringing noise sounded in his ears, deafened by the blast. Cool water poured over the back of his head. His vision shaky and blurred, Panther moved into a crouch, turning around to assess the scene. Smoke and fire billowed out of what was left of Giichi's cabin, turning to steam as the fire sprinklers overhead poured water on the blaze. Red strobe lights bathed the corridor in a flashing scarlet hue, alarm klaxons reaching Panther's ears as the ringing noise faded.
"Panther…Panther!" He heard Wolf say over the radio, the voice difficult to hear. "Are you there?"
He slid his hand unit closer to his ears. "I'm here…" He coughed, feeling his lungs filling with acrid smoke. Shaky, he lurched to his feet, using the railing on the side of the corridor for support.
"Can you get back to the bridge?"
No questions about if he was okay, or if he needed medical assistance, Panther noted. Nonetheless he wiped the water off of his face, doing his best to keep his voice steady. "Yes…"
"Then get back here you idiot! Running off like that, I oughta…" Wolf cut the connection.
Grunting, Panther brought himself back into a stand, limping on one of his legs as he shuffled his way back up to where Wolf and Leon were. Black soot from the blast covered his front, cuts and tears all over his suit. Blood dripped from his head, more of it staining his suit crimson in places. And he thought the first trip to the bridge today was going to be bad. Wolf was going to have a whole new set of questions now.
As the doors to the bridge opened and Panther staggered back inside, Sable's face remained on the large screen, staring down at Wolf as he busied himself with Roland at the security station. She looked like she was sizing him up as if he were prey.
But as Panther walked back towards Wolf, she looked at him, smiling. "Ah, I see you're back now."
Panther wished she hadn't done that.
Wolf spun around, seeing his wingman standing there, covered with black soot and looking like crap. The lupine took a second look at Panther's state before resuming the chew out from before. "What were you thinking Panther?! Why'd you go down there in such a hurry?"
"I saw Giichi right before I came up here last time." Panther didn't want to be the center of attention right now, especially after the little stunt he pulled. Nonetheless, he hoped answering Wolf's questions quickly would get the spotlight off him. "He was in his room. I thought I could catch him if I hurried."
Wolf narrowed his eyes, processing the reply. It looked like he was going to take Panther's word for it, but then he asked, "But why did you say it was something you had to do yourself when you were about to barge into his room?"
Panther's ears peeled backwards. He'd forgotten he'd said that, and it sure must have sounded strange to Wolf when he heard it. While he was a good enough pilot to be one of the Big Three in Star Wolf, Wolf and Leon considered him lazy and laid back compared to them. When was the last time they saw him putting that much effort into anything besides enjoying fine luxuries or chasing after a lady?
"Enough!" Sable intervened before he had to answer Wolf. She gazed around the room. "At least he was more proactive than the lot of you! He deserves a hero's medal for what he's done."
Wolf's face twisted as he faced away from Sable, glaring at Panther with his one good eye. He looked like he wanted to point out how flawed Sable's opinion was, but held his tongue. She was the one signing their checks for this after all, and it wouldn't look good to criticize someone who'd earned her favor. Sighing, he turned back to Sable. "I don't get it." Wolf frowned, now more angry than afraid as he changed the subject. "I saw this on the monitors right before the security team went in. He should have been in there! This is bullshit!"
Black and white footage from a security camera played next to Sable's face. Giichi walked down the corridor outside his room, holding a soda and a box of food from the canteen in his hands. Reaching the door, the sand cat balanced the soda on top of his lunch box, as he reached into a pocket for his keycard. He slid the card against the reader, sweeping the door open with his foot before kicking it closed behind him after entering. It looked so casual, like he was simply grabbing some lunch in the middle of the day before settling back into his work.
"Things are never that simple when it comes to Giichi." Sable folded her arms, glaring down at the lupine before him. "He's a slippery fellow, but explaining his disappearance is simple. The footage you saw of him was prerecorded."
"Prerecorded…" Wolf's eye widened. The lupine shook his head, sighing as he did so. "Like when he helped us sneak into the Corneria City base. He used prerecorded footage to hide us while we snuck in. Punk ass kid."
"I see." The panthress put on a mocking smile as she gazed upon Wolf's misery. "Looks like he was studying your own system at the same time he was working on the Cornerians'. That's him all right. If I were you, I wouldn't trust any of your ship's computers now. In fact, he's probably monitoring everything we're talking about through your own surveillance system."
"How do you know all of this about him?" Wolf asked.
"He's been a thorn in our side for years now. I recognize his tactics, since he's been doing the same sorts of things against us."
There was that mysterious 'us' and 'we' again, like she'd been making reference to a few minutes ago. It piqued Panther's curiosity, although she didn't seem interested in saying more about herself or her organization.
"Giichi and his lot are terrorists, and the galaxy would be a much better place with all of them dead." She glared at the room, her yellow slit eyes burning as she did so.
"Giichi's a terrorist?" Panther's eyes widened.
"Indeed Panther." Her eyes narrowed, a grim expression on her face.
Panther couldn't imagine Giichi being the sort of person who'd bomb a shopping center or something. But then again, an hour ago he would have called anyone a liar if they said Giichi was going to betray Star Wolf. He realized now there were a lot of things he didn't know about his supposed friend.
"What else do you know about him?" Panther was eager to learn more.
"Wherever Giichi is, his bodyguard Augustine Strafer is not far away. He has been Giichi's bodyguard for nearly two decades and has never failed to protect him. He's also skilled at infiltrating and blending in, not being noticed until it's too late." She indicated towards the picture of the gray canine with the yellow eyes, ignored until this point. "Those two are rarely apart. I'm ninety nine percent certain Augustine is the one who planted that bomb. He must be on your ship with Giichi."
Panther took a second look at the canine's photograph. Augustine's fur was the color of stone, and his face and expression looked equally as hard, especially with those arresting yellow eyes. Was it true this guy was somewhere close by? Maybe even inside the Retribution? The thought chilled him to the bone. But Panther couldn't recall a single time he'd seen this guy whenever he'd spoken to Giichi. All the same, was it his imagination or did Augustine look familiar? Was it someone he passed in one of the halls?
Panther blinked, finally making the connection. "Wait, he was in the common room next to Giichi's place. I saw him sitting on the couch watching a movie. He must have been there as a lookout." And I walked right past him less than a couple hours ago. Panther's heart raced, his breaths coming back short and ragged. They were alone in that room. Augustine could have easily put a knife or gunshot in his back. It was like having a close call with a poisonous snake hiding under an innocent-looking rock.
"He looks familiar to me too," Leon said, speaking for the first time as he pulled out a photograph. "I think he's the same person in the middle of this picture. This was in Harry's and Franco's old room." It depicted the two named canines along with Augustine in the middle, all of them dressed in winter soldier gear. Leon turned over to Wolf. "So those two guys who tried to poison you Wolf… They're connected to both Augustine and Giichi. Add that to whoever picked up the case on the surface, and that's at least five people involved, with two of them dead."
Wolf had a sick look on his face as he stared around the room. Panther couldn't blame him, as he joined the lupine in looking face to face at the crew members standing around. How many people on the Retribution's crew were in on this goddamn conspiracy? Could they even trust the people in this room? The bridge crew had frightened looks on their faces, as if one the Big Three might suddenly order them into the interrogation chambers deep in the bowels of the ship.
"Who are these people?" Wolf asked, glancing back at Sable. "Why do they want your case? How many of them are there?"
"Who they are and why they want the case is not important," Sable snapped. "The only important thing is you deliver the item to me." Her face brightened for a moment, as if she realized something. "This does give you an opportunity though. If you can capture one of them, they should know where the case is. Also, if you bring us Giichi alive and unharmed along with the case, I'll throw in a bonus on top of the one hundred million credits. How does an extra three million sound?"
Panther sucked in a breath. Three million for Giichi? It would cover the price of the Hyoodin and even give him an extra five hundred K as a bonus. He grinned. "I'll take you up on that offer." At this point, he'd be happy to hunt Giichi for free.
"Excellent, Panther," Sable smiled at him. "I wish I had someone like you working for me."
He blinked, surprised by the compliment. Wolf and Leon giving him odd glances off to the side. They sure didn't give him credit like that very often. Why was she taking such a shine to him anyway? Not that he was complaining.
"But didn't you say you wanted Giichi dead?" Wolf asked, looking confused.
"Unfortunately, Giichi's final fate is not up to me." Sable rolled her eyes. "I've been ordered to take him alive if the opportunity presents itself."
Ordered? Panther thought. She wasn't the top boss? Someone else was calling the shots for her?
"And what about Augustine?" Wolf pointed at his photograph.
"I don't care." Sable snorted, folding her arms. "Once you've got the case back, feel free to kill him, torture him, or whatever. Aside from knowing where the case is, he has no value. I'll check in on your progress later." She terminated communications without bothering to say goodbye.
Wolf nodded. "Okay…" He turned to the communications station. "Recall everyone from the surface. We can't trust any electronic means on tracking these guys, so we're gonna need manpower instead. Once everyone's back here I want this ship scoured top to bottom for Giichi and Augustine. Send those photographs to everybody's devices. No one leaves the ship until they're found." He pointed at the images on the main screens. "Also, whoever captures them alive gets a one million credit bonus from me."
The bridge crew's eyes flew open at the mention of that figure. A lot of them looked like they wanted to run off the bridge right now and help out in the hunt. Wolf smiled, Panther grinning along with him. Before it felt like an impossible task to find the case, but now Sable had given them the solution to all their problems. The Retribution was big, but it wasn't that big. It was only a matter of time before somebody found one of those two and got them to cough up the case's location. They'd finally get their one hundred million credit payment, and Panther would be in the clear on his Hyoodin.
"Uh, hold on!" a mallard at the radar station said. He changed part of the main screen to display four red blips approaching the Retribution. "We've got incoming! Four fighters! They're coming round the moon and they're moving fast!"
"Are they ours?" Wolf turned around, walking towards the duck.
"Negative! Three Arwings and a Cornerian fighter!" The image changed again to show the distant silhouettes of approaching fighters.
"What?!"
A new face appeared on the main screen. Fox McCloud sat there in his Arwing, a confident smirk on his face. "Hey Wolf! I hear you have something very important that belongs to the Cornerian military. They'd like it back, if that's not too much trouble."
Panther snarled, growling as the cocky vulpine grinned at all of them like some dumb idiot. Of all the times Star Fox had to attack, why did it have to be now? A part of him wondered if this might have been planned.
Wolf dismissed Fox's idiotic face from the screen. "Take 'em down!" He shouted towards the weapons station.
The image of the incoming bogeys continued to show nothing but clear space. They couldn't hear, feel, or see any of the Retribution's point defenses firing. Wolf's eye narrowed, his own face curling into a snarl.
He glanced back at the weapons station. "Why aren't we shooting them?! Why are our shields lowered?"
"The ship's in a powered down state and we're running with a skeleton crew here!" Captain Jamal shouted, the rhino rapidly punching commands into a nearby terminal and trying to get ahold of the gunners. "We were trying to hide here, remember? Star Fox caught us with our pants down!"
"Then hurry and get those shields active!" Wolf stomped over to Jamal. Even though the rhino made the lupine look tiny, Jamal cowered back into his chair as his boss approached, trying to look as small as possible. Not an easy thing, given his species. Wolf jerked a finger over towards the main screen, shouting so much spittle flew from his face. "Shoot back already!"
Some of the point defenses powered up and began firing, red laser blasts streaking towards the incoming Star Fox team. It wasn't near enough to be an effective defense though, as the incoming fighters easily avoided the few shots flying their way. The Star Fox team split off into two pairs, one headed for the aft section of the ship and the other one flying towards their starboard side. One of them fired off a nova bomb, the ordnance streaking towards their engines. The bomb exploded, the entire ship rocking from the blast.
"They're firing!" the weapons station declared.
"No shit!" Wolf screamed.
"Shields are powered up and holding though. Just in time too. They were aiming for the engines. Minimal damage."
The Arwings danced around the outside of the Retribution, avoiding the pitiful volume of fire as easily as a swarm of flies dodged around badly aimed swats from a newspaper. Wolf growled at the sight, pissed off by the whole thing. Panther shared the sentiment. They didn't have time to deal with this right now!
"Of all the…" Wolf's voice trailed off. Grumbling, he ran a hand through the mohawk on his head. The look on his face suggested he wanted to rip somebody's head off right now. Nonetheless, the lupine calmed himself down and cast a sideways glance at Leon and Panther. "We'll have to go out there and deal with them ourselves. Gotta do it the old-fashioned way."
Go outside? Fight Star Fox? Right now, while they were so close to getting the case back? "But what about hunting for Giichi and Augustine?" Panther asked.
"I want to go after them too, but it'll have to wait Panther." He sighed, waving off the suggestion. "We can't afford to lose the Retribution. Not even for one hundred million credits."
He'd already started walking for the door even as he was talking. Leon trailed after him. Panther stood rooted to the spot, wondering what he should do. Wolf was his boss, but he desperately needed to find Giichi so they could get that case. It couldn't wait right now and—
"Panther!" Wolf shouted from the bridge's exit, waiting there with Leon. "Stop standing there like an idiot! We've gotta go!"
Panther's ears peeled back, his tail thrashing behind him in anger. He cursed whatever gods were watching over him right now. Reluctantly, he trotted after his teammates, frustrated that he had to deal with this instead of going after who he really wanted to kill right now.
Wolf broke out into a sprint once the three of them were together, taking the lead. Panther had never seen his boss run so fast before, watching his gray tail thrash back and forth from behind. Even though Panther was a powerful, agile cat, he struggled to keep up. So did Leon. The various corridors and stairs flew by in a blur, all three of them almost out of breath by the time they made it to their destination.
They finally rushed through the entrance to the hangar, the large space greeting their eyes. A loud horn bellowed in their ears, coming from the left. Wolf looked in that direction, and just in time. Panther saw a cargo truck barreling straight for the lupine. He stumbled backwards, almost getting run over. The truck's tires screeched against the metal floor, the brakes squealing in protest. Wolf threw out his hands, the truck pushing him back a couple meters as it came back to a stop.
"Watch where you're driving!" Wolf shouted at the driver, his voice almost loud enough to shake the windshield glass.
Once he realized he'd almost run over the head honcho of Star Wolf, the white cat behind the wheel looked like he was turning even whiter somehow. Lucky for the driver, they didn't have time to deal with him right now. The team kept running for their fighters, Panther glancing back to see the small truck driving away, carrying a cargo container in its rear bed.
The jungle cat shook his head. He needed to focus on the upcoming dogfight right now. His future hinged upon it. If Giichi and Augustine got away, that'd be it as far as finding the case and getting paid. And that would put Panther in a very precarious position indeed, once Wolf found out he'd bought that Hyoodin with Star Wolf's money.
As they rushed through the room, Panther noted the hangar was mostly empty of ships, since the bulk of the Retribution's forces were deployed planetside. Cargo containers, support vehicles, and other equipment lay scattered around, but most of the floor space sat empty. Only seeing a handful of fighters here unsettled Panther, knowing Star Fox was attacking them. Even so, Wolf's Wolfen, Panther's Black Rose, and Leon's Rainbow Delta waited in the central part of the floor, technicians running around them and prepping them for takeoff. The three of them combined with the Retribution giving support ought to be enough to fight off Star Fox. But instead of going for his Wolfen, Wolf ran for the part of the hangar he'd closed off with the temporary metal partitions.
"Clear all that away!" Wolf hollered out as he approached.
Panther blinked, slowing down. That was where Wolf had his secret project going for months, not showing it to anybody, not even from Leon and Panther himself. What was in there and why was Wolf pulling it out now? The technicians prepping the Wolfen rushed over, grunting as they moved aside the temporary metal walls.
As they revealed what was inside, Panther realized it was a new fighter painted in Star Wolf's colors of red, white, and black. However, this was a ship design he'd never seen before. From the front, it resembled a six-pointed star, between the two wings and two sets of twin tails, one set sprouting out from above and the other coming out of the bottom. The nose was split into two halves to make room for twin laser cannons sitting between the prongs, right in front of the cockpit. That'd make the lasers extremely easy to aim and something of a death beam to anyone who got caught in them. Nova bomb launchers were embedded into the wings as well. Between the compact shape, the extra wings for more turning power, and the cone-mounted blaster cannons, it looked like one mean dog fighting machine.
"This is the special project you had going on back here?" Leon asked.
"That's right." Wolf smiled, a toothy grin on his face. "This is the Foxhound. I based it on the old Wolfen II design from the Andross days. I thought it was time to try something new with how much we've lost to Star Fox. It's not battle tested yet, but now seems like a good time for a test drive. We don't have time to be fighting Star Fox, so we need to end this as quickly as possible. I think the Foxhound is up for this job, wouldn't you say?"
Leon and Panther both nodded their approval.
"All right, let's get out there boys!" Wolf pumped his fist. "We've got a hundred and three million to make!"
The three of them split off to run for their fighters, Panther jumping inside the Black Rose. As the cockpit canopy settled closed and he taxied into position for takeoff, Panther eyed the open docking port, watching as the Arwings darted in and out of sight while the point defenses tracked them. Today, he intended to fight at one hundred percent as opposed to his usual, more laid back style. No messing around, no flirting, just straight up killing. He had another, more important prey to bag once this was overwith…
In a small cube-shaped room in another part of the ship, Giichi sat on a crate and looked at a tablet computer, the device providing the only illumination in the small space. He rewatched the exchange between Sable and Star Wolf on the bridge from a few minutes ago. The fur on the back of his neck stood up when she offered them the three million credit reward for his capture. Sure, he'd been hunted like this in the past by others under Sable's command, but she'd never offered a reward this big before. Not to mention he'd never been trapped on the same ship as the people trying to catch him either. Giichi looked around the small space, the walls feeling like they were closing in. He felt like Star Wolf grunts would open up the door to this room any second.
"How are you feeling Giichi?" The voice was almost monotone and robotic-like. A hand, hard as granite but reassuring all the same, rested on his shoulder.
Upon the feel of that, some of the fear melted away. Giichi turned to look at Augustine sitting on a crate next to him. If anything about what the canine heard from the video fazed him, the he didn't show it. Then again, that was his default mode of operation anyway. It's why Augustine had been his bodyguard all these years, after all. Almost anything thrown at him wouldn't shake him.
He wore a dark bodysuit colored charcoal grey, the chest area a slightly lighter shade. Small stripes in a faded orange accented the lighter patch, running away along the sides of his chest. A black harness covered the outside of the suit, numerous pouches and tactical gear attached to it. On his right arm, a peculiar gauntlet covered most of it, extending past his elbow and up most of his shoulder. While the material of the gauntlet looked like metal, it bent and stretched over the elbow as though it were a softer material instead like rubber.
"Not going to lie Nail, I'm scared." Giichi grimaced, eyes to the floor. Nail was Augustine's nickname. "Even with you here, no offense. Feels like a noose is closing around my neck."
"It's okay." Nail pat him on the shoulder, the edges of his mouth turning up in an almost invisible smile. Lowering his hand, Nail drew a semi-automatic handgun out of a holster strapped to his hip, screwing a black tube on the end. He slipped a magazine into the handle, pulling the nickel slide back to chamber the first shot. The pistol was of an old-fashioned variety, the kind that fired bullets instead of lasers. "I'm here, and I've never failed you."
Giichi nodded. Nail spoke the truth about that.
"You should have never let Panther get that close to you though." He continued, still checking his gun. While this type of firearm was an older style of weapon, Giichi remembered Nail saying it would work better for sneaking off the Retribution than any kind of blaster. He called the black tube a suppressor, and talked about how it'd lower the firing noise to where the only sound was the slide moving back after each shot. "It's dangerous to be fraternizing with the enemy."
"Maybe so but I feel bad about what we've done to him." The sand cat's ears folded back. "He bought that car, thinking he'd get paid, and now it looks like he's not going to get out of this unscathed. You have any idea how much it hurt to pretend to be excited when he showed me his new Hyoodin?"
"Was it pretending? I know you and your cars." Nail's golden eyes felt like they stared straight through Giichi, as they usually did. "Besides, it's Panther's fault he's in his mess, not yours. He brought this on himself."
Those words didn't offer Giichi much comfort. He didn't like those security guards dying either. Sure, it was Nail who set the bomb, although Giichi still felt like he had blood on his hands from agreeing to that plan. Also, they wouldn't be the last deaths at Nail's hands today. He never did like it when Nail killed to protect him, as inevitable as it was.
"Sorry, but we're at war Giichi," Nail said, sensing his mood. "Sometimes killing is the only solution if you want to survive."
Suddenly the 'room' came to a jolting halt. A crane whirred, picking them up off the back of a flatbed and placing them on the metal floor. There was a brief set of footsteps, and then the sound of a truck driving away.
"Okay, we're here," Nail whispered, waving his hand for Giichi to get down. The sand cat put away the tablet computer, hiding behind some of the smaller boxes and away from the room's door. "Wait till I clear the area."
He walked towards the door, gently pushing down the latch and pushing it open with the barrel of his suppressed pistol. Giichi risked a peek, catching a glimpse of the hangar outside. The three Star Wolf fighters had just taken off to fight Star Fox, blasting off into space. While the guards watched the fighters leave, Nail slipped out through the door, shutting it behind him. Now Giichi found himself alone in the darkness of the freight container. It was all in Nail's hands now to get them out of here. But like he said before, he'd never failed to protect Giichi. Hopefully it'd be the same today.
A/N: Damn, it feels good to be back! Wow…almost a whole year without an update on this story. Didn't think it'd take this long to get back round to it. But I think the time off was good for me. I've got a huge document with notes and outlines on where I want this story to go next, so that should be a big help in keeping writer's block at bay in the future.
Also, writing Fox and Krystal in 10,462 Lives was fun, but I'd say writing Star Wolf is my true calling. I love writing stories about these guys. Anti-hero and villain characters have always been a lot more interesting to me compared to unambiguously good heroes, hence why I gravitate towards Wolf as opposed to Fox. It probably comes from me playing lots of GTA games and watching heist or crime films where the protagonists are criminals. This was way easier to write compared to the later chapters of 10,462 Lives, that's for sure.
Next up will be an update to Love is Blind. I haven't updated that since April, so I think it's owed some attention now as well. Hope to see you over there!