Ten years ago, James Mccloud was sent to planet Macbeth by General Pepper to accompany on a mission that involved raiding an armored train. It was rumored that the train held important intel as well as plans for a bio weapon that could easily bring any form of society to its knees, which was all going to be in the hands of Andross if it reached its destination.
When James arrives at Macbeth, he notices an individual waiting for his arrival on a rocky hilltop. When he lands his airwing, he disembark's from it and walks up to him. "James Mccloud I'm guessing?" The person says, "Yea..you?" James says as he looks around cautiously, seeing as how they're out in the open. "Lieutenant Strauss, you can just call me Adryal. If General Pepper sent you to tag along this really must be important" Adryal says. "Im just an extra gun for the job, nothin' special. Introductions aside..what do you got?" James asks, "It took months, but I was able to be one of the few people Andross trust to make sure the train gets to where it needs to be.." Adryal responds.
"So he has no suspicions of you at all?" James says, "Aside from him not trusting pretty much anyone, I'm almost certain he doesn't know I'm with the CDF" Adryal responds. James gives Adryal an uncertain look, believing that there's a good chance Andross might actually have such a suspicion. However, he keeps his thoughts to himself and continues to speak as he looks away. "Hm..alright, so how is this gonna work? Is it possible to stop the train before it even starts runnin'?" James says, "Unfortunately not, the area its in is crawling with Andross' men. Better to let it run a few miles so we don't have to worry about anymore resistance than we'd be dealing with, that way my men wont get overwhelmed.." Adryal responds.
"Fair enough, just make sure your men hold their weight this should be over quickly.." James says, "Dont worry, everything should go according to plan as long as we-" Adryal says before getting cut off by his arm pad making an aggressive beeping sound. He holds it up and looks at it with a peeved expression. "Somethin' wrong..?" James asks, "Its nothing, my wife went on a trip with my daughter a couple of weeks ago to see her folks..just keepin tabs on them as all. It won't interfere with the mission.." Adryal responds. He turns to walk to his ship, when the cockpit window opens; he grabs the ladder and turns back to James. "I'll give you more details on the plan soon, for now I gotta get back to the train site. Try to stay low until then.." he says. James understandingly nods, Adryal then proceeds to get in his ship and take off shortly after his ship hovers for a few seconds.
A few hours later, the sun has set on Macbeth; making its rocky plains fall into an almost pitch black darkness. James Mccloud is currently in his airwing letting time go by, soon after, he presses a few buttons on his ships controls; making a video appear on the screen in front of him. The video shows an infant Fox Mccloud attempting to walk while making an assortment of noises. "Cmon sweetie, you're breaking your dad's record right here!" A female voice says behind the camera, Fox takes around five steps; making her cheer him on more and more with each step.
When he tries to take a sixth, he begins to lose his balance; making her playfully gasp in shock. "Oh nonono you got it baby! Just one more step!" She says. Shortly after, he recovers and takes three whole steps before falling to the carpet floor; making her cheer in excitement. The camera then turns around and shows James' wife Vixy, "You saw it yourself hun, beat your record by a whole three steps! Now I know what you'll think, and to that the answer is yes..he gets that willpower from his mother" Vixy says playfully. James smirks and lightly shakes his head at the comment before pressing a button to veiw the next video.
The next video shows a six year old Fox Mccloud running around in a Cornerian public park with a toy ship in his hand. "H-honey please be careful! I don't want it being the fifth time you get hurt cause you're not looking where you're going!" Vixy pleads, Fox however doesn't listen whilst running even faster. Vixy lets out a sigh before turning the camera to herself while having an unamused expression on her face, "I swear, he's becoming almost just as stubborn as you. God knows how I'll be able to handle two stubborn-" Vixy says before hearing a sudden loud thud followed by Fox groaning in pain out of the cameras veiw. "Ah-sweety I just said-..uugh! If its not your father gettin into some trouble its you.." Vixy says in a mildly frustrated tone as she puts the camera down on the park bench while proceeding to walk out of the cameras frame.
James goes from a smirk to a full on smile before pressing a button for the next video to play. Once it does, he sees himself In his past home holding Fox's legs while he sits on his shoulders. Surrounding them are a bunch of baloons as a colorful happy birthday sign hangs above their heads. "Fiiinally got these two on camera together, say high to the camera birthday boy!" Vixy says behind the camera, "And the one time she gets us both the cameras about to die.." James says as Fox laughs and waves to the camera.
"Oh hush you, It would've been charged if I wasn't busy gettin' everything together for our little trouble maker. Speaking of which, james...the cake?" Vixy says, expecting to be disappointed by his answer. "I told you Peppy's got us covered, I wouldn't trust anyone else with deliverin' a cake..can't say I trust em not to eat it though" James jokingly says as he sets fox down. Before Vixy can respond, a knock on the front door is heard. "Speak of the devil.." James says, he walks over and presses a button on a terminal on the wall. As the door slides open, James moves to the side as Peppy walks through holding an outer space themed cake.
"One surprisingly heavy birthday cake for mah nine year old co-pilot!" Peppy says, Fox jumps in excitement before running to hug peppy, making him slightly lose his balance for a second. "And here Vix was doubting ya, I told her she could trust you" James says as he smiles at her, "hmph, I'll give credit when the parties over.." Vixy responds in a playful way. When Peppy puts the cake down on a table near him, his arm pad goes off. As he brings it up to look at it, his smile immediately dissappears shortly before having a worried expression.
James notices and develops the same expression, "Peppy? Peppy what's wrong?" he says. "James we uh..we have to go, Pepper was right..shit he was actually right.." he says as he looks at both James and vixy before running out the front door, "Peppy! Peppy wai-..Vix stay here, I'll be back!" He says as he runs out the door to follow Peppy. Vixy puts down the camera on the counter top next to her and runs out of its veiw, "W-wait James what's going on!? What does he-" She says before the camera dies, ending the video. James' smile slowly goes away when the last few seconds of the video made him remember the situation peppy was worried about.
For a moment he hesitated, but he eventually pressed the button for the next video to play. The video showed Vixy in a research lab, faint explosions could be heard in the backround as she looks at the camera with tears in her eyes. "I wish this wasn't something I'd have to do James...but I know you'd rather this than not hear from me at all.." she says, she looks away from the camera and continues. "It won't be long before they breach the ship, and if it is who I think is doing this...none of us are making it off this ship. By the time you see this, I'll already..be gone" Vixy struggles to say.
She shuts her eyes and takes a deep breath before looking back at the camera, "I need you to promise me something..promise me Fox won't leave your sight. You're all he has, James. I don't want our son to grow up in this world alone...he needs you.." Vixy says. Slightly louder explosions are heard shortly after, making her turn around to the main entrance of the room. She turns back around and holds her head down, subtly laughing. "You remember when you two came back from flying around Corneria? The look on his face...that was the most happiest I've seen him" She says as she wipes the tears from her eyes.
James feels a mixture of anger and sorrow, but his face expression remains focused. A loud banging occurs on the reinforced door behind Vixy, making her slightly startled but not turn around. "Please...give him many more moments like that, I love you both...so much" Vixy says. As she slowy gets up from her chair, she cocks the blaster pistol that she was holding under the desk. She then turns around and aims it at the door as the sound of banging gets slower but more aggressive. The moment the door burst's open, the video is cut off by a transmission from Peppy; snapping James out of focus.
James patches him through before looking outside his airwing. Shortly after, Peppy appears on screen. "Well hell, I wasn't expectin you to pick up. After all that stuff we had to do before Pepper dragged you to Macbeth, I was sure you'd be out cold for a few hour's.." He says, "..hm, guess it's just one of thosenights" James responds, still looking out his ships window. Peppy looks at James and notices something is off, shortly before realizing the problem. "...you watched that video again huh.." Peppy questions, James doesn't respond nor give a reaction to what he said.
"James you know I'd normally stay out of-" Peppy says before James cuts him off, "Its fine..Peppy, it's different this time.." James says. "I'm just makin' sure, don't want it to be a repeat of the first time when you watched it..for both Fox and your sake" Peppy responds. As James finally looks at the screen while adjusting his jacket, Peppy continues to speak. "Anyway..speaking of Fox, I was calling to let ya know he's doin just fine staying with my folks. Aside from missing you of course, but fine nonetheless" Peppy says, "Appreciate it Peppy..you still didn't have to do that.." James responds.
"Ah cmon now, you'd do the same for me. Except there ain't no way in hell you'll see me with my own kid.." Peppy says, James subtlety laughs at the comment. "So, any updates on the mission?" Peppy asks, "Still waiting on the CDF Lieutenant to fill me in fully, but I'm pretty sure I know where his plan is headed.." James says. "You want me to come through? Got plenty of fuel to get there.." Peppy asks, "I'll be fine, you keep enjoying your vacation from getting shot at.." James responds. "Hell, you don't gotta tell me twice. Just be careful out there alright?" Peppy says, "Always.." James replies. Peppy nods before ending the transition, James then leans his head back in his seat as he closes his eyes. The last video he watched continued to drown out any other thoughts he had until he eventually drifted to sleep.
A few hours later, the sun is back up and Andross' men are in the final stages of getting the armored train moving. As two mercenaries load the middle car with turret ammunition, Adryal is leaned against the door; eavesdropping on their conversation. "Shit, Andross really ain't fuckin' around this time. That stunt he pulled in Corneria was one thing, but whatever we're protectin' Is gonna make that look like child's play; from what I'm hearing atleast.." they say as they drop the ammunition box next to the mounted gun.
"All this won't mean shit if that James guy gets involved.." the other says as they pick up another box from outside, "jesus what are ya, his groupie? He's just one guy for christ sake.." they say. "You don't remember what happened after we ran through that ship with all those scientists? Guy came to Venom by himself took out atleast twenty of our guys in a dogfight, right on Andross' front door.." the other merc says after putting the box next to the others. "If you two don't stop running your godamnmouths I'll up it to twenty two.." a voice says from the end of the train car.
The two merch's as well as Adryal look over to see a pig walking towards them while lighting a cigarette, "Eaasy Pigma, we're movin.." the first merch says as they go outside, making the other one follow. Pigma keeps his eyes trained on Adryal as he continues to look outside, he then walks up to him while he inhales his cigarette; blowing smoke in his face shortly after. "What's got you so fixated for you to be staring at nothin' but dirt gravel?" Pigma says in an intimidating tone, Adryal is unbotherd and doesn't make eye contact. "Better dirt gravel than your ugly mug.." Adryal responds.
Pigma looks down and chuckles before looking back up at Adryal, " That's funny, you know...I'll remember that when Andross puts a bounty on your head for whatever reason. That way, when I pay you a visit..I can laugh aaaall over again.." Pigma says. He flicks his cigarette out of the train car before banging on the outside of it with his fist, letting the merchs outside the next car know that's its time to depart. He gives Adryal an intimidating smirk before walking to the next car, as he walks away; Adryal turns to look at him for a brief moment as he presses a button to close the train cars slide door. Even though his family's lack of communication is troubling him, it's not enough to break his focus on the mission at hand.