It is now the next day, the mission to destroy the turric weapon on Planet Venom was a success. However, due to certain events that followed; Peppy starts to get a bad taste in his mouth in regards to General Peppers previous actions. Peppy takes it apon himself to have a discussion with him privately, when he arrives in Corneria; he lands on one of the LZ's near the main CDF tower. A couple of minutes later, Peppy enters the same room where Pepper told him and the rest of the starfox team about Solomon's alleged betrayal.
Peppy looks over to see Pepper looking out of the window, "...No matter how many times I look out this window, it always feels like I'm seeing the city for the first time.." Pepper says. Peppy looks at him and says nothing, he then proceeds to put his hands in his pockets and walk to the opposite side of the table in the middle of the room. "We need to talk..Pepper" he says in a serious tone, "About what exactly..?" Pepper says as he looks over his shoulder. "The way things are goin', Fox is gonna find out at some point. Holding out on it will only make things worse.." Peppy responds, "...the situation is being handled, as long as you do what I tell you to..we can fix our problem accordingly" Pepper says.
"Our problem? With all due respect you told me about all of this a couple of days ago, you and James knew about this for years now and didn't tell me a goddamn thing. This ain't an "our" problem scenario!" Peppy says, slightly raising his voice. General Pepper turns around and immediately responds, "If Aydral is able to carry out his plans, we won't just be needing to worry about an invasion on Corneria, but the entire damn lylat system along with it! So as far as im concerned Peppy..this IS our problem!" General Pepper responds angrily, slamming his fist on the table.
Peppy puts his hands on the table and leans forward, staring Pepper dead in his eyes. "...what the hell did you order James to do..to have one man want the entire lylat system in the palm of his hand?" He says. Before General Pepper could respond, a CDF Soilder opens the door and walks in. "Apologies sir, I was told to double check with you on if we should still carry out the task regarding the turric prisoner" They say, "..yes, and be done with it quickly" Pepper responds. The CDF Soilder nods then proceeds to close the door as they walk out.
"Turric prisoner? The one Fox talked to?" Peppy asks, "Yes, I'm having her executed. Im no longer taking this turric threat lightly, she's too dangerous to be kept alive.." Pepper says as he walks back to the window. Peppys eyes widen in shock, "Executed!? From what Fox said that girl wants Adryal taken down as much as any of us do!" Peppy yells. "Regardless, it's a saftey measure I'm willing to take. Besides..isn't she the reason why Fox has suspicions in the first place?" Pepper says without taking his eyes off the city, Peppy shakes his head and backs up from the table. "No..no no this is too goddamn far!" He says before storming out of the room.
Meanwhile at the bottom floor, Vera is being escorted by two CDF soilders down a hall that leads to the main entrance. "I assume you two aren't gonna tell me where I'm going..?" She says, as she expected; the guards didn't respond. The moment they make it to the main entrance, Vera takes a deep breath; unsure of what to expect. "HEY!" a voice yells from across the main area, Vera, the Soilders everyone else present look over to see Peppy speed walking towards them. "She's being taken off your hands, unlock the restraints.." Peppy says with mild aggression.
"This a direct order from the general?" one of the soilders ask, "Its a direct order from me, now unlock the goddamn restraints!" Peppy says angrily. "If the general didn't authorize it, then it's not happening.." the other soilder says in an irritated tone. "I aint in the mood for this.." Peppy says as he grabs Vera's arm and attempts to walk out the main entrance. One of the soilders then proceeds to quickly grab his shoulder, "Hey! I don't know who you think you-" the soilder says before Peppy turns around and punches them square in the face; knocking them down.
The other soilder gunbutt's peppy in the nose, knocking him down as well. Before peppy can get up, the soilder holds him down by pressing his rifle to his neck. Vera looks at the commotion, being completely confused and unsure of what to do; she stands there and does nothing. "Enough!" A voice yells from the same side of the main area Peppy was, Peppy everyone else looks over to see General Pepper standing a couple of feet away from the commotion.
"Get him up..." Pepper says as he walks to Peppy. The two soilders follow Pepper's orders and pick Peppy up from the ground, both restraining his arms behind his back. General Pepper stops walking the moment he gets face to face with Peppy, "I'll let you have it your way this time Peppy. But just know, if she does anything that may leave us vulnerable..anything; you'll be the one to answer for it" Pepper says in an intimidating tone.
Peppy angrily stares at Pepper, ignoring the blood running from his nose. General Pepper raises his hand, letting the soilders know to let him go. The moment they let go of Peppy's arms, he immediately heads out the main entrance; making Vera follow behind. "I-..I don't understand, what just happened?" Vera questions, "the usual disagreement with authority as all.." Peppy says as he takes his neck scarf off to wipe the blood from his face.
"You seem to have some authority yourself if you're able to do what you just did and not end up in these restraints" Vera says, "Not really, me and Pepper just go way back..even before Fox came along" Peppy responds. "Wait, you know Fox Mccloud? Did he send you to come get me?" Vera asks, "No, I'm here on my own accord. If Pepper didn't say what he said we wouldn't even be talking to eachother right now.." Peppy says.
"What he say? Not only that, if you two known eachother for so long I don't see why he would just-" Vera says before Peppy cuts her off the moment they reach his airing. "Listen, I'm not in the mood to explain everything right now so I'll be brief. They were gonna kill you, part of the reason is with how everything's going right now, they don't trust anybody associated with the turric. The other part..well it wouldn't mean much to you if you did or didn't know" Peppy says as he looks down at his blood stained scarf, he then looks back up at Vera and continues.
"What you should know, is that im risking alot trustin' you. To be honest, I still dont...even if Fox thinks otherwise. In the back of my mind I feel like the moment we turn our backs, you'll be ready to screw us over without hesitatin'...let's hope for both of our sakes you prove me wrong" Peppy says, he then turns around to his airwing and climbs the ladder as the cockpit window opens.
Vera is unsure of what to say, the information she was told has left her with mixed feelings. As Peppy is rummaging through the compartment under his airwing's controls, she eventually speaks up. "So then...what's next?" She asks, Peppy pulls a keycard specifically made for the restraints Vera has out of his compartment. He then looks at her and holds it up, "You provin' me wrong.." he says.
Meanwhile on Planet Fichina, Adryal is alone in the war room, looking at the icy plains through the large glass window. Shortly after, Lithra comes through the entrance and stays at the door. "Sir, we tried our best to hold them off but..the weapon was destroyed." Lithra says, "..No matter, enough time was bought. Futher operations will continue on Fortuna, You and Gandriv will see to it that Fortuna is completely under turric control.." Adryal says. "Yes sir, I'll be sure everything is prepped ready.." Lithra says before turning around and exiting the room. Adryal then looks up and stares at Corneria, "How long are you willing to delay the inevitable..." he says to himself.
Sometime later on the great fox, Fox is in the medical bay watching over Krystal as she sleeps soundly. Fox looks down at her, feeling a mixture of anger and regret. Shortly after, Falco enters the medical bay; walking up to Fox until they're standing side by side. Both say nothing for a short duration before Falco breaks the silence. "..How's she holdin' up?" Falco asks, "Bruised up pretty bad, Rob said a couple more hits to that side wound she would've been out of commission way longer" Fox responds.
"Hm..well atleast shes still breathing..." Falco says, Fox doesn't respond to Falco's comment. "My thing is, this Adryal asshole knew our exact location to bring her here...which has me wonderin' what else he knows" Falco says, "Doesn't matter what he knows, it's not gonna stop us from shutting down whatever plan he has...I'll make sure of that" Fox says as he doesn't take his eyes off of Krystal. Almost immediately, Slippy enters the medical bay in a full sprint then stops. "Guys! Peppy's back but...y-you should see for yourself" Slippy says.
Shortly after, the three make it to the hanger to see Peppy disembark a CDF transport ship along side Vera. "Vera..?" Fox says surprisingly, Vera looks over to see Fox; making her eyes widen. "Fox! It's been a bit, that or being in a holding cell for so long made it feel that way atleast.." she jokingly says as she walks up to him, "Yea..alot definitely happened since we last spoke, speaking of which I-...Peppy?" Fox says as he looks over Vera's shoulder to see Peppy walking towards them with a bruised nose. Fox walks around Vera and continues to rush to Peppy along with falco Slippy.
"Peppy what happened?" Fox questions, "It was just a little confrontation, no need to worry about it.." Peppy responds in a mentally exhausted tone. "Well who the hell did it? We ain't just gonna let em-" Falco says before Peppy cuts him off, "I said don't worry about it, I may be old but I sure as hell aint fragile.." Peppy responds In an annoyed tone. "Fox.. there's alot of things we need to discuss, but for now we need our full attention on Vera. She may be the only option we have to stopping Adryal dead in his tracks" Peppy says as he turns to look at her.
"Like I said last time, im willing to help any way I can.." Vera says as she walks up to the four, Fox gives her a nod of approval before turning his attention to Pepper. "Did Pepper say what's the next move?" Fox questions, "Not yet, but I'm sure it won't be long before he does.." Peppy responds. "Then we'll be ready when he does. Slippy, take Vera to one of the empty quarters so she can rest up. And Falco, check if Solomon needs anything else to fix his ship..without being at eachothers throats" Fox orders.
Falco rolls his eyes and walks away as slippy tells Vera to follow him to the empty quarters. Fox then turns to Peppy with concerned look, "Are you sure we don't need to worry about that bruise Peppy?" He says. "Its fine Fox, Trust me.. You should probably rest up too. I gotta feelin whatever we gotta do next ain't gonna be easy.." Peppy responds, "Cmoon old timer, when is it ever easy?" Fox says before turning around walking away. "Yea...right" Peppy says to himself as he looks away, feeling guilt eat away at him just from knowing the information Pepper told him about Adryal James Mccloud.