Sometime after Solomon bumped heads with Falco, he arrives at an apartment complex a good distance away from where they fought. As he keeps an eye out for any CDF enforcers, he heads to the back of the building through an ally way until he reaches a door. He bangs on it twice then proceeds to wait cautiously, when the door opens; he turns around to see a tall bull with scars nearly all over his body.
"You got alotta fuckin nerve commin' here with the amount of heat you got up yer ass" the bull says, "CDF's got no clue I'm here, and I ain't plannin' on staying long either...I just need to talk to marcel" Solomon responds. The bull turns his head slightly to spit and looks back at Solomon, "If Marcel is smart, he'll turn your ass right back around...messin with you is gonna get us all screwed" the bull says in a aggressive tone.
Before Solomon could respond, the cat that helped him with Falco appears behind the bull and moves him to the side. "You keeping him out in the open ain't exactly helping either, drop the tough guy act and go tell Marcel hes here.." she says, the bull aggressively exhales through his nostrils before bumping her out of the way and proceeding to do what she said. Solomon quickly walks in and closes the door behind him while watching the bull walk away.
"You okay sol?" The cat asks worryingly, "Aside from the lack of sleep law enforcement on my ass..peachy, thanks for helping me with Lombardi by the way.." Solomon says as he walks down the hall, making the cat follow suit. "I don't understand, why is the CDF trying to hunt you down? Aren't you one of them? Not only that...F-Falco-" The cat says before being cut off by Solomon as he turns around and grabs her shoulders.
"You dont gotta worry, I'm in the process of handling this mess. You should get some rest..or check on falco, if his CDF buddies didn't get to em first" Solomon says, he continues to walk down the hall before walking up a flight of stairs; while the cat stands in the same spot feeling a mixture of confusion and concern.
When Solomon gets to the end of the stairs, hes greeted with atleast a dozen people doing various tasks; from assembling guns to organizing narcotics. He walks past them until he reaches a beaded curtain, as he walks through he sees Marcel; a fairly muscular pitt bull sitting at a table along side a few other people.
"Well I'll be damed...even though I knew you were commin, I still cant believe you're actually here.." Marcel says, "Well...you always did say I'd be crawlin back here at some point" Solomon responds. Marcel snaps his fingers and points the curtain behind Solomon, signaling everyone in the room to leave. As they leave, Marcel gets out of his chair and lights a cigarette.
"On the account of your face being on TV as public enemy number one, as well as the cornerian military shakin' up the goddamn city just to find you...I'd say I wasnt too far off" Marcel jokingly says, "Which is why I'm gonna need your help Marcel.." Solomon says. Marcel recoils his upper body and gives Solomon a confused look.
"Are you crazy? This ain't no scuffle with some assholes down the block, this is the cornerian military you got tryna run you down" he says as he peeks out a window behind him, "No no nothing like that, I just need someplace to lay low for tonight; then some weapons for when i head out" Solomon says. Marcel puts out his cigarette on the table and shakes his head in disbelief.
"How the hell did you even go from being one of their top boys to a fugitive? You ain't been around in years, but I know you well enough to know you dont work like that.." Marcel questions, "Long story short, someone screwed me..took out my whole unit during a mission and put the blame on me; now I'm fixing to find him and off the prick.." Solomon says angrily.
Marcel looks away before letting out a deep breath, he then turns his attention back to Solomon. "I don't know sol, you know I got no problem helpin' you out. It's just, the way things are lookin...it seems like I'd be risking alot more than I'm comfortable with" He says, "Cmon Marcel I'm beggin you here, I've been through hell trying to get back here from Macbeth haven't slept in nearly two days...just one night and I'm gone" Solomon pleads.
Marcel looks away for a moment, he thinks to himself for a brief period before he begins to speak, "Fuck..One night Sol, then we get you kitted and you bounce" Marcel says as he takes another cigarette out of the pack. "Thanks Marcel, that's all I ask.." Solomon says in a relieved tone. "Yea yea, just know that you owe me. If anything, you teach me how to win in that bullshit card game you use to play with these misfits outside...I'll call it even right now" Marcel Says.
"Finally got tired of losing huh.." Solomon says jokingly, "More like tired of losing fuckin money.." Marcel responds. The two lightly laugh before heading out the room, as they go through the beaded curtain; the bull watches them from an open room where the guns are stored. When they are out of his veiw, he continues to sort the weaponry with the rest of the people there.
Meanwhile in the more presentable part of corneria, Nathan is at a ramen shop while being deep in his own thoughts. When he notices someone sits next to him, he looks over to see Risso with a fresh bruise near his eye. "Risso? What the hell are you doing here of all places?" Nathan says, "Aaah just some personal business I got done with, what about you poster boy? I thought you CDF dogs were kept on a tight leash" Riso says before drinking alcohol from his personal container.
"Certain soilders were granted furlough, and I was one of em. A buddy of mine was supposed to be one of those people but..hes gone" Nathan says, staring at his untouched food. "Iced by one of those Turric assholes I'm guessin'?" Risso questions, "Yea, only except the person that did it was one of us. Killed his whole unit...my buddy included, Solomon I think his name is" Nathan responds.
"So that's the guy I'm seeing plastered all over corneria, hmm...with how much hes got the CDF riled up; I might give Pepper a visit offer a business proposal" Risso says, he then looks at Nathan and smirks before continuing. "Speaking of riled up, wheres your plus one huh?" He says, "She went to visit the old orphanage she came from, surpised she's even doing that with all they put her through. Actually, I wanted to ask; why did you force the caretakers to only give her up?" Nathan asks.
Risso stops in the middle of taking a sip of his alcohol while having a surprised look on his face, "Shit..that's surprising, I really thought you'd be the first person she'd tell" He says. Nathan turns to Risso fully with a confused look, "What do you mean? Tell me what?" He questions. "What she told you, ain't what happened. Before my crew was as big as it is now, there was only six of us. The orphanage would pay us to keep people out of there hair, whether it was thugs or regular people who knew they were working those kids to death" Risso says, he then continues.
"One day, we came to collect what we were owed. One of the caretakers brought me and my buddy at the time to his office since he was nervous about some stupid shit, that's when we saw Kitman; balancin' a bucket of water on her head in the corner of the room..guess she was being punished for somethin'. In the middle of the guy givin us our pay, her arms gave out...and she dropped the entire thing; asshole beat the living hell out of here riiight in front of us.." Risso says.
"And you just let that happen?" Nathan says in an annoyed tone, "lemme finish, ever since that day I started to have some sort of sympathy for the first time in years...believe it or not. So, me and the boys were gonna do exactly what the orphanage paid us to prevent. But when we got there..the place was an absolute mess, a few caretakers were dead; some with stab wounds others with blaster holes. We thought some people already hit the place, so we got our guns out just incase. When I reached the office door, there she was..standing over the same guy that beat the shit out of here..with a blaster in her hand" Risso explains.
Nathan let's Risso continue to explain, "When she turned around, she looked far from scared. Hell, I'd go as far as to say she looked like she done this kinda shit before. Seeing that display, we figured she'd be useful; so we took her in and well..the rest is history" Risso says as he finishes the last bit of his alcohol. Nathan is speeches for a moment, he lighty shakes his head in disbelief and looks back at Risso.
"Why..w-why wouldnt she-" Nathan says before Risso interjects, "Tell you? Shit if I know. If I had to take a guess, I'd say she didn't want you to think of her in a different light. It's also not something I imagine someone would bring up on a casual conversation" Risso says. Before Nathan could respawn, someone whistles behind Risson to get his attention. He turns around to see two of his crew member's outside of the shop holding unusual containers, "Welp, that's my cue. See ya around kid, tellin from how much I'm hearin about these Turric pricks..it'll be very soon" Risso says. He then exist the store and leaves with his crew member's, while Nathan takes in the information he was just told.
Several hours later, Falco is back at the great fox; along with the rest of the fox team gathered around him in the hanger. "Knocked out in the middle of a back ally huh.." Peppy says while slightly laughing, "Quiet old man! I basically had that son of a bitch dead to rights! Pepper would've been down his throat right now if it wasnt for who ever helped him escape.." Falco says angrily. "Nevertheless, he got away..no doubt he probably retreated to wherever the turric's hiding" Fox responds.
"Something doesn't seem right, why would Solomon eliminate his entire unit to keep Turric Intel a secret..but leave Falco alive?" Slippy questions, "What're y'all getting at exactly?" Peppy asks. "With how Falco explained it, Solomon could have easily got rid of him for good on multiple occasions; but he didn't. And for someone who operates in the form of leaving no loose ends, Falco being alive right now definitely goes against that" Slippy explains.
"Slippy does have a point, I'm not saying Solomon is innocent; but I do feel something isnt aligning here" Krystal says, the team then hears the hanger door open behind them; causing them to turn around see R.O.B walking up to them. "General Pepper is in need of your assistance, it appears to be urgent" he says, Peppy Fox exchange looks before looking back at R.O.B.
A few moments later, the fox team is at the main deck along with general pepper being shown on the hologram. "What's the situation sir?" Fox asks, " The operation to capture Solomon is no longer your concern, there is a more important matter for you to attend to" General Pepper says. He then continues, "Intel shows that the Turric is holding operations on the planet Venom, they appear to be in the process of powering a dangerous weapon; a weapon that can do damage on a massive scale" he says.
"What are your orders sir?" Fox says, "Put their operation to a complete hault, that weapon must be disabled at all cost; you will have assistance from the CDF as well.." Pepper responds. Fox nods in understanding, "Understood sir, they'll be no trace of that weapon once we're through" he says boldly. "I have no doubt...good luck fox" Pepper says. when he ends the transmission, he puts his hand out to inspect a pair of dog tags he's holding; which has the name Aydral Strauss engraved on one of them.