They say when you die you see figures from whatever religion you followed. Cornerians saw winged canines arrayed in white, singing heavenly choruses; the desert dwellers of Titania saw the great Goras, who escorted them over the sandy seas to the afterlife; the amphibians met the mer-people, who swam down with them into the hidden city; and the exiles on Venom who believed in nothing, saw only nothing.
As for Fox, he just saw a series of giant, red, floating letters:
YOU DIED
It was at this point he realized he'd played too many video games in life and felt rather disappointed with himself.
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Well, here he was: dead.
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He knew it.
He felt it.
He simply was it.
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In fact, he wasn't at all—and that is the main problem with being dead.
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Or maybe it wasn't that he was nothing, but that he was everything. And everywhere. And everywhen—all at once, spread in a layer only a single atom thick.
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But in contrast to the fear, frustration, and fatigue he had in life, Fox was finally at peace. He felt devoid of pain—numb, even.
Everything was crystal-clear: overly-simplistic to the point where even a child could understand what was happening. He saw the guards firing on him. He saw the lasers, frozen like bright spikes of light protruding from his chest. He saw the strange, blue-furred vixen behind him, safe from the sizzling projectiles.
"Oh well. At least I put my life to good use."
Fox's only reaction was contentment. Satisfaction.
His vision kept expanding, even to the point where he could see himself.
"Wow, I look really goofy in freeze frame. Yikes, that's gotta hurt. But if I'm down there, who's this up here?"
Fox felt himself go light as a feather. He rose up through the dark labs of Venom, seeing Beltino, Sergeant Clayton, and all the rest of the occupants likewise frozen in place.
Twisting his head around, he looked up towards his destination. There, bored through the thick clouds of Venom's atmosphere, was a tunnel of light. At the end blazed the source of it all: a blinding white star? Fox couldn't tell, but he continued to ascend towards it.
He floated up through the clouds. The light grew brighter and brighter till it would've blinded any mortal Lylatian, but Fox didn't feel mortal anymore.
When he drew close enough, the light at the end of the tunnel materialized into a being clothed in white. It was an orange-furred vixen: his mother, Vixy.
"Mom… I thought I'd never see you again!"
She smiled and laughed down at him: a pleasant laugh that sounded like birds singing in the dawn. Fox flew into her waiting arms, sinking into her warm embrace till he was entirely enveloped. An intense feeling of acceptance flooded over him, as strong as a tidal wave. It painted his blank heart of apathy and disinterest with bright colors of emotions. He was home again.
In an instant he saw his life pass before his eyes. It was like watching a river flow in reverse, and he was following it back to its source. He pursued it, seeing every event slide perfectly into place.
Everything transpired in reverse order. The Cornerian blasters seemed to suck their lasers back out of his chest. Fox and the vixen retraced their footsteps to Section 9 and he helped her back into the cryochamber. The liquid jumped off the floor and arranged into a neat column, while shards of glass levitated and seamlessly fit back together like a puzzle completing itself. Beltino guided Fox to his Arwing, and he returned to Corneria. He argued with Peppy before putting the photo of Vixy and Andross back where he found it on the beach. Falco and the party guests came back to his house in reverse order, picking the trash off the floor and regurgitating food and punch onto the tables. Then just as quickly as they came, they left again, filing out with full bottles of soda and resealed chip bags. The previous day, Fara found Fox on the ocean pier and kissed him, telling him that she would stay with him forever, before the police chief released him from prison.
After that the memories picked up their pace. He watched himself flying to Venom to put Andross's metallic head back together, then retreating with the rest of Star Fox to leave the tortured soul alone. In response, Andross withdrew his troops from all of Lylat: everywhere, lasers left the hearts of dead men and returned to Venomian blasters, bringing them to life again. Buildings flew back together and bombs lifted into the sky, as if magnetized by Venomian cruisers.
It was impossible to explain to anyone else what was going on, or how B lead back to A and so forth, but to Fox it was quite clear. He was simply a being that observed time flowing backwards, with effect preceding cause. What if all Lylatians were simply seeing things the wrong way? What if all their troubles lay in their perception? Wars could be undone, so many people would be spared from having to part ways, and loved ones would never die; they'd simply rise from the ground and grow more beautiful and youthful till the day they entered their mothers' wombs again. Entropy was no longer a destructive force, but one that brought order to the universe—and life from death!
Fox laughed joyously at the epiphany. Of course, that was it! He had discovered the key to all happiness in life! It was simply to perceive the true direction of time!
Then he realized he'd have to barf up food and cram shit into his ass, so he quickly gave up the idea.
But the memories didn't stop flooding in, like an antique VHS tape being rewound. Sector Y's nebula shrank, reforming the Bolse satellite, and Fox's mom descended from it to embrace him. From there Fox grew younger and younger till he was but a kit. Before he knew it he was back inside the womb again, and could only see the bright red glow of the sun seeping through his mother's skin.
He was safe and sound.
All of his life's journey, complete.
But then… the sensation faded.
The red sunlight seeping through skin became the flashing emergency lights of the labs.
The warmth of his mother's womb was merely a pair of legs cushioning his head.
I'm… back?
Mission No. 11
Venom
Laboratory Halls
"Rebirth"
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Sure enough, Fox was back in the hopeless clutches of Venom's laboratories.
"Oh come oooon!"
He felt disappointed: cheated, even. If he was going to die, he might as well follow through with it. Now he realized he'd have to sit through that long-ass cutscene all over again, and he couldn't just press X to skip it.
A startled gasp sounded above him at the outburst, and he squinted through the darkness. Fox found himself looking up the lithe torso of the vixen he'd saved, staring at her concerned, yet fearful face.
"Uh, hi?"
At once her face disappeared, and the "pillow" whipped out from beneath Fox's head. His skull plummeted like a brick, smacking the concrete floor.
"OW!"
Fox groaned, pulling himself into a sitting position while rubbing the back of his head. Peering through the darkness, he realized he was in a crawlspace behind a forest of rusted pipes and wires somewhere off the main hallway. 28 had scurried to the opposite end of the crawlspace, retreating into the corner and facing him anxiously.
With a start Fox remembered who she was—or rather, what she was: the same monster as the one prowling the halls now.
Then with an even bigger shudder he remembered who he was, and that was somehow even worse.
"Oh god, I'm still Fox McCloud…"
Carefully he unholstered his blaster, holding it at the ready in case she made her move now. He was tired, sore, vulnerable, and dazed from the attack. It was lucky he woke up when he did, or she very well might have…
He blinked, realizing.
While he was unconscious, the vixen had somehow dragged his body to safety beneath the crawlspace, then cradled his head in her lap. While rubbing the back of his skull, his hand shifted to his cheek, remembering the soft touch of her legs against it. In addition, and oddly enough, his migraine seemed to have vanished without a trace. Perhaps a pillow like that was better than any medicine.
All of which was to say, if she ever intended to kill him, that would have been the moment to do so.
…But she hadn't.
Fox tentatively crawled towards her, and the vixen flinched in apprehension—but he remembered to holster his blaster again.
"You saved me, didn't you?"
28 looked at him fearfully.
"You dragged me here all by yourself. How did you do that?"
A slow shake of the head.
Then Fox remembered the last thing he had seen before going under: the bright flashes of the Cornerian firing squad after he stepped between them and their blue target.
"Wait, I've got a better question. How the hell am I still alive?!"
Maybe he'd only imagined the lasers earlier. Maybe they only gave him flesh wounds or missed him entirely. He was also willing to brush off the crazy experience he'd had as another side effect of the migraine pills—or his withdrawal from them. But just when he had convinced himself that was the case…
…He lay a paw on his chest and felt something warm and sticky.
Sure enough, it came away soaked in blood.
In fact, his whole torso was drenched in the stuff. Fox normally would've felt anxiety at this point, but for some reason it was mysteriously absent, as if the dream had given him intense confidence and direction. Without hesitating, he unzipped his flight suit and revealed his normally fluffy white underbelly, finding it likewise saturated in red.
He raised his head and looked back up at the vixen in amazement. He wasn't surprised to find her paws likewise stained with blood—his blood, most likely—and streaks of red on her borrowed lab coat where she tried to wipe them off.
"Did… did you have something to do with this?"
28 shook her head in confusion; not because she hadn't carried him necessarily, but because she couldn't understand his question.
"Tashich nīe verkaru…"
Now that she'd let slip the fact she spoke Venomian, she didn't bother hiding it from Fox. He scratched his head, wishing he had a translator on his person. There were so many questions he wanted to ask her, but they'd all have to wait. So instead he approached her with his palms raised, showing her he had no ill intent.
"Hey, I'm… I'm sorry for doubting you. You saved me back there. I owe my life to you, so… thank you."
Relieved he finally trusted her again, the vixen scooted closer. "Sssank you," she repeated with a Venomian accent.
Sounds echoed down the hall, signaling something's approach. Both the vulpines' ears perked when they picked it up. Together they huddled against the back wall of the crawlspace, hunkering down and making themselves as small as possible—but instead of the monster, Fox heard the sound of boots and hushed voices. He sighed in relief.
"Whew, just the Cornerians. They'll see us to safety."
He got on all fours and began climbing out of the crawlspace, but the 28 grabbed his jacket. Surprised, he turned around to see her vigorously shaking her head.
"What?"
"Nīe!" she hissed.
Fox turned back, seeing the soldiers' flashlight beams sweep across the floor outside.
"But this is our ticket out! They'll protect us!"
She shook her head again, latching onto his jacket with both hands. "Verzai mito tashich," she begged.
Fox froze in place, about to crawl out and wave the Cornerians down. Why was she so adamant about hiding from them? Didn't she know who liberated her from Andross?
"Four more men gone, right around here…" a soldier's voice echoed to them.
"Remember, when you see it, don't hesitate. That's how it gets ya. You gotta shoot the instant it sees you—preferably before."
"I don't like this one bit. Nothing in Lylat should be able to do this."
"Why do we even keep them in cryosleep? They're too much of a liability, and this proves it."
"There has to be some value left in them, right?"
"Well whatever Space Dynamics thinks they can get out of them, it ain't worth it…"
The hope in Fox's heart deflated. For the first time he asked himself, what would the scientists do when he returned the girl? If they didn't outright kill her, they'd put her right back in cryosleep—perhaps indefinitely, or until they extracted everything they could from her. Was that the life he really wanted for 28?
The soldiers' beams approached the crawlspace, and Fox instinctively scurried back. He put himself in front of the vixen, shielding her from the light. The beams swept over his boots when the soldiers passed, but thankfully they took no notice of them.
When the sound of their footsteps died again, 28 released a long sigh.
"Dangatō, Foxsu," she whispered.
He appreciated her thanks, but he still felt conflicted about what he'd done. Matching her sigh, he slid down the wall and plopped onto his tail.
"Well, this is a screwed-up mess we're in." He was talking more for his own sake than 28's. "Now I don't know what to do with you. I guess we're even for saving each other's lives, but… I can't just leave you here with that other monster running around. Nor can I take you with me to the Cornerians, or they might try to kill you again, and we'd wind up in this same spot. And even if they don't outright kill you, they might put you back in cryosleep to keep you from hurting anyone."
Everything he said of course flew over her head, but she reached out and grabbed his arm.
"Tashich nīe holleshī siekim nizu ghen…"
Fox was surprised by her touch—he even flinched at first, but decided to pat her hand reassuringly rather than pull away.
"Relax, I won't return you until I know it's safe. It may be the responsible thing to do, but… I don't know if I'd ever see you again. Then there's the fact that I was brought here, as if I was meant to find your species—maybe even you, specifically. Or that other one that's prowling around, and this was just an elaborate trap to kill me…"
He looked into her eyes, studying her.
"…But I don't think so. Something else is going on here. Those people wanted me to find Section 9. Whatever this project was, there's a chance my mom could've helped with it."
"Tashich… holleshī nizu verzai mito siekim."
Ignoring her, Fox snapped his fingers. "Escaping the labs is sure gonna be a pain. We'll have to search for some other way out and board my Arwing on the surface." He shivered at the thought; after all, Venom was where they exiled the worst of criminals to rot to death. He didn't know how long he could survive in the wasteland, much less this girl.
The decision was made for him as the sound of boots echoed down the hall. With how far the echoes traveled ahead they had plenty of time to make a break for it.
"Come on, let's go!"
Fox grabbed the 28's hand and together they wiggled out of the crawlspace. It took a minute for them to stretch their sore legs, but once they were warmed up they managed to run down the halls in the opposite direction. As before, 28 didn't even need his help. Of course not, Fox thought—if she could manage to drag him all that way to safety on her own. Perhaps he was underestimating her strength.
He shuddered to think what the real monster had done to the Cornerian soldiers they left behind…
Rather than return to the surface hangar where he stashed his Arwing, Fox forged deeper into the labs. If they were lucky they would find an exit into the bottom of the canyon, or perhaps an airduct. It also meant they'd be less likely to run into Cornerian guards. Thankfully all of the sections and sub-blocks they passed were already evacuated and sealed-off in the lockdown; they met no other lifeforms in the silent darkness—whether soldier or monster.
Apparently they were back in the domain of the other research subject, for the warning lights and sirens were all destroyed here. At least they had some peace and quiet, but their visibility was next to zero and their footsteps would be easily heard in the hall's magnifying acoustics.
"McCloud!" Fox's radio buzzed. "McCloud, the specimen has killed four more of my troops, all travelling together. I've had to call in backup from the courthouse. If you're still able to, get out of there now! Even you're not cut out for this!"
Instinctively Fox raised his hand to his headset—but at the last second he hesitated before switching on his mic. He wasn't sure he wanted to be found anymore…
"McCloud?" Clayton repeated, worry in his voice. "McCloud?! Oh shit… oh shit, he can't die on my watch. Hurry up and find that escaped Cerinian!"
Fox switched off his radio completely so that he wouldn't be tempted to answer again. Better that the Cornerians thought he was dead than alive and escaping with one of Andross's prisoners. But at least he had learned a new piece of information.
"So… you're a Cerinian?" he asked.
28's ears perked at the word.
"Well, on the bright side I know the name of your species now. Though I still don't know your name—"
"Yamalt!" the vixen hissed, raising a hand. Her head swiveled from side to side, ears perked.
"What?" Fox whispered, spinning the flashlight around.
She pointed, and Fox shone his wrist unit down a long hallway on their right.
At the very edge of the beam where it dissipated into darkness, his light fell upon a bent figure crouching over another corpse.
At first Fox thought it was a Cornerian guard checking on one of the monster's victims. That notion faded as the creature slowly rose to its feet, revealing back-length hair and a feminine form.
"It's her!" Fox hissed, grabbing 28's arm.
Too late; she spotted them.
The second Cerinian tilted her head back and let loose a chalkboard-grating howl.
"Run!" Fox shouted. Together they broke into a full sprint, but abnormally loud and fast footsteps echoed from behind.
Suddenly a light fixture flew over their heads, landing on the floor ahead and shattering.
Had the Cerinian thrown that from all the way back there?!
In answer to his question, a fire extinguisher and a defibrillator soon followed suit. Fox chanced a quick glance over his shoulder, only to see the mad Cerinian bounding after them on all fours like a wild animal. A metal gurney in front of her seemed to fly into the air all by itself and rocket straight towards them.
"Look out!"
Fox tackled 28 out of the way, just in time for the gurney to sail past and smash onto the floor. The two vulpines fell into a perpendicular hallway, now losing precious time.
Fox spotted the entrance to a large air vent near the floor. With a quick blast from his handgun he blew one end of the cover off and tore the other free with his hand.
"In here!" he gestured.
28 ducked low and squeezed into the vents, with Fox quickly crawling in behind her. Thankfully the ducts were quite spacious, as Andross's laboratories required a large atmospheric cleansing system to combat Venom's noxious air.
Fox urged 28 on from behind, helping her climb forwards to put space between themselves and the entrance. But eventually he had her stop, and the two remained as quiet as possible. They did their best to hold their breaths and emit little noise, as the other Cerinian had rounded the corner.
They could hear her claws clacking against the floor as she searched in confusion. As far as she knew, her prey had just vanished. They'd successfully pulled one over on her.
Then a pair of gleaming eyes crept into the vent entrance.
Fox gasped and fired a blaster shot at what he thought was the monster's head. The woman howled and withdrew herself from the vents. But then the section holding the entrance inexplicably crushed together like a tin can.
"That's not fair!" Fox yelled in panic.
One-by-one the duct sections were collapsed towards Fox, who hurriedly pushed the girl in front of him on. They crawled at little more than a snail's pace until he heard a surprised yip, and the vixen disappeared from in front of him.
"28?!"
Fox aimed his wrist light ahead, identifying a hole that led down a vertical shaft. Blind in the darkness, the poor girl probably tumbled right into it by accident… but perhaps it was a stroke of luck.
"Gangway, I'm coming down!"
Fox dove into the hole, descending ten or so feet before reaching the bottom, where he found the vixen rubbing a bump on her head.
"Ughhh, smertami…"
Fox angled the light around till he found another vent cover. Through the slats he saw more red emergency lights, accompanied by grating klaxons.
"Well, at least we're down another level. That should buy us some time while she finds the—"
A tremendous crash sounded outside, and a large chunk of plaster and steel beams fell to the floor. He heard the plaster crumble into dust while the support beams squealed in protest.
"…stairs," he finished.
Just as Fox feared, the beast had caught up with them, simply making her own hole to the lower floor. This time she didn't just crush the ducts; she completely tore them free from the wall and yanked them into the hallway.
28 looked at Fox with worried eyes. She grabbed his hand and held it tight, only to have it torn away again when the section of the vent holding her guardian was also ripped from the wall.
"Foxsu!"
The thin steel casing collapsed around Fox when it struck the floor, and he coughed in the cloud of plaster dust left behind. The Cerinian didn't give him any time to recover though, and an instant later Fox found himself lifted from the floor. Powerful, super-Lylatian paws gripped his arms and thrust him against the wall, leaving scarlet handprints on his sleeves. Sirens blared in his ears, and the ruddy warning lights strobed mercilessly in his face.
The Cerinian had him tightly pinned against the wall. She was larger than the girl he'd saved: stronger and older, too. But most of her sapphire blue fur was coated in crimson red; it looked like a bucket of blood had been up-ended over her head and drenched down her shoulders. In fact it soaked almost every inch of her fur, matting her long, back-length hair, covering her face in a bloody mask, seeping down her shoulders and breasts, and staining her lighter-colored belly. She was the pure image of carnage: Fox's approaching death staring him in the face.
The Cerinian snarled and shifted one hand to Fox's throat, strangling him. She stepped in close to Fox so that her hot breath suffocated him and her chest wiped stains of blood on his uniform. She stared into his dying eyes for several seconds, feeding off their fading light. Then she opened her jaws and growled before clamping them down over Fox's muzzle.
The young todd only managed a muffled scream. At first he dug at the claws strangling his throat, then went for the blade sheathed at his waist. Gripping the handle with one fist, he plunged it into her left arm.
The blood-soaked vixen screeched and stumbled back, relinquishing her grip on Fox. He fell to the floor, gasping for breath—but as soon as he could he rolled away, adrenaline making it easy to ignore the pain.
So she could be hurt. Fresh plasma oozed from the knife wound in the creature's forearm, but it was like a drop of blood in an already scarlet sea.
Placing more space between them, Fox drew his blaster, aimed, and fired a shot directly at her heart.
The Cerinian made eye-contact with him at the last second. The red bolt of laser energy sailed through the air faster than the eye could follow—
—and dissipated mere inches before reaching its target above her left breast.
The muzzle of Fox's blaster lowered. "Wha-what?"
The scarlet-furred vixen bared her sparkling, blood-yellowed teeth, and he suddenly found himself rising weightlessly into the air.
What the hell is going on?! he thought.
Fox now hovered three clear feet above the ground, kicking and flailing desperately. A powerful force constricted around his throat, once again choking him—this time, without the use of hands.
Through blurry eyes, Fox watched in disbelief as the vixen managed to strangle and lift him into the air from three full yards away. Some sort of… telekinesis?
Darkness lapped at the edges of his vision, but he refused to slip away so easily. No, he had to stay alive. There wasn't any way he could die; not after being brought back like that. What was the point of coming back to life if he was only going to die again a few minutes later? His second life couldn't be squandered like this, else what was the point?!
His faith was rewarded.
28 slipped out of the mangled air duct and planted herself behind her larger, crimson-furred sister. She stared at the back of her head and clenched her fists defiantly.
Fox couldn't see what she did exactly, but to his amazement the blood-soaked Cerinian abruptly dropped to her knees and clutched her head, as if in pain. As a result Fox unceremoniously fell to the floor, landing on his rear.
28 stepped around to the front of the fallen Cerinian. Her eyes widened when she saw her sister crying in pain. Tears rained from her eyes, washing the blood away to expose streaks of clear blue fur on her face.
Just like her own…
Without hesitation Fox scrambled for his blaster, which he primed and aimed at the incapacitated vixen. He lined up a shot to her head and began squeezing the trigger.
"Nīe, Foxsu!"
The cobalt-furred Cerinian jumped in front of Fox, spreading her arms. The movement caused her over-sized lab coat to billow around her thin frame. She stood firmly between Fox and the other woman, keeping him from firing—just as she'd seen him do earlier for her.
"Move!" Fox ordered, gesturing with his blaster.
But the girl only repeated, "Nīe!" glaring harder at Fox.
"She'll kill us if I don't!" he argued.
'No, she won't!'
Fox blinked. "Did you just… speak Cornerian?"
The vixen's eyes widened, but she quickly shook her head. "N-nīe…"
"But I heard you!"
She closed her eyes, looking down. For a few seconds she stood with her arms spread protectively, still gasping for breath after their recent confrontation.
Finally, though, she raised her head again and opened her eyes, staring into Fox's.
'Please. Please don't kill her.'
Fox's jaw dropped. He hadn't seen her lips move at all, yet he still heard her voice. Not in his ears—but in his head.
"How are you doing that?!" he gasped.
'She didn't know what she was doing. She… she lost control. She's not a monster!'
Her fists clenched; her voice had nearly shouted in his head.
'She's not… a monster…'
Reluctantly, Fox lowered his blaster. Curious, he stepped around 28 and craned his neck to see their enemy.
She seemed like… a brand-new person.
The Cerinian sat on the floor, arms wrapped around her knees as she curled into a tight ball. She leaned forwards and backwards, like a baby trying to rock itself to sleep. She looked frightened, lost, and docile now.
To make sure, Fox knelt in front of the pacified Cerinian and waved a hand in front of her eyes. The red-stained orbs darted over to him, looking frightened.
Fox looked back at 28. "How did you…?" But he trailed off, knowing he wouldn't get an answer.
Yet.
His own Cerinian crouched beside them. Hesitantly she drew Fox's knife from the other woman's arm. Next, with a look of determination on her face, she unwrapped Fox's bandana from her own wounded leg and wound it around the gash Fox had cut in their enemy. The bloody Cerinian looked up at her with confused, tear-stained eyes. The girl smiled warmly back.
Fox had a hard time believing the two could share a moment like this, but in the end, even if she had tried to kill them, both she and her sister had gone through the same ordeals at Andross's hands. Maybe they were the closest things they had to family, he thought.
Rushing footsteps echoed down from the hole in the ceiling. The Cornerians, Fox realized. He grabbed 28's arm. "We've got to run!"
Together they stood up, but the other Cerinian didn't rise with them. She just stared in wonder at Fox's bandana tied around her arm.
Fox hated leaving her, but he didn't like the idea of having to transport two Cerinians around—especially when one had done a very good job of trying to murder him. All he could do was pray the Cornerians would be merciful and spare her this time.
Now his companion led their retreat from the guards, leaving Fox to look back at the bloodied Cerinian huddled on the floor. The last thing he saw of her was his father's bandana wrapped around her arm.
It dawned on him he might never see the memento again…
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At the head of a squad of Cornerian soldiers marched Captain Bill Grey. Normally he'd hate being called away from the trials just to clean up more of Andross's rubbish, but as Sergeant Clayton had reported, this was no ordinary security breach. As he understood it, a dangerous experiment had escaped and was terrorizing the labs—and if his help would save lives, he had no qualms going in after it.
What's more, they'd told him Fox went in before him, and hadn't reported back…
Still, as Bill crept through the lab's unpleasantly-familiar halls, he couldn't help but feel a sick feeling growing in his stomach. The wound was too fresh. He remembered all too well what this compound had taken from him.
He'd only reluctantly let Lieutenant Lynx follow him back in. Lieutenant Spaniel, the replacement leader for Husky unit, had also offered to follow, but he made her stay back. He didn't even give her a reason why; only that he wanted her to stay and command courthouse security in his absence. He didn't want to admit that he was afraid of losing her or Miyu down here, too…
"Captain," the lynx whispered, "there's a large amount of debris up ahead. I think we're close."
Sure enough they'd stumbled upon a disemboweled ventilation system and a large hole in the floor: one leading to a lower level.
Bill crouched next to the hole, which still leaked pieces of plaster. As he anticipated, thermals revealed a suspicious heat signature beneath them. It was too warm to be just another corpse—unless of course it was killed recently.
The newly-promoted captain signaled the rest of the soldiers to follow on his heels. He primed his blaster, hearing the high-pitched whine climb in tone as its energy built up for a deadly bolt. Mustering up the courage, he dropped through the hole and braced himself before striking the ground below.
As soon as he landed he knelt in a firing stance and aimed at the heat signature. From this angle he couldn't tell what it was exactly, but it seemed to be a woman completely-covered in blood.
One-by-one his men dropped in behind him, all taking similar stances and targeting her.
"That's the monster, Captain!" one of them hissed. "That's not its own blood; that's our men's!"
Bill looked in horror at the plasma-covered woman. Quickly he lined up the shot—but before he could fire, he noticed something:
Among the sea of crimson bloodstains, a flash of brighter red stood out.
He raised a fist. "Hold your fire!"
The Cerinian girl flinched, but otherwise didn't move. All this time, even prior to them finding her, she'd been cowering in place as if waiting to be found. She sat curled-up in a tight ball, knees hugged to her chest. Her long, blood-soaked hair draped in front of her face, covering most of her expression; the one eye Bill could see was downcast, as if too ashamed to look up at him. But what caught his attention most was the article of cloth wrapped carefully around her forearm, now stained from the wound it sealed:
A red bandana…
Bill's heart stopped.
"F-Fox…?"
At the sound of the name, she finally stared up at him with both fear and curiosity in her eye—yet it bore him no malice: nothing that communicated the intent to kill.
"No…" Miyu breathed. "You don't think she—?"
"What are you waiting for?!" another soldier barked from behind him. "Let's kill that thing before it kills us, too!"
"No, wait, I don't think she's—"
Miyu gasped. "Bill, watch it, she's coming for you!"
The bulldog jumped slightly and turned back, heart-beat accelerating when he found the Cerinian had crawled over to his knees. She'd already grabbed his gun in her hands… but rather than try to wrench it free, she merely knelt before him, placing the barrel against her bowed head.
"What are you—?!"
"Kaistör tashich," she whispered, managing little more than a quiet breath.
At her display of resignation, every soldier in the hallway fell silent—even the ones who had called for her death. They simply stood with their guns aimed at her, many trembling as they struggled to figure out why the monster had accepted her impending death so readily—begged for it, even. She didn't even try to put up a fight.
Disgusted, Bill jerked his gun free from her hands—but he didn't take it off her just yet. The Cerinian flinched but remained kneeling before him, head bowed and eyes closed in acceptance, blood-stained claws folded in her lap.
Bill didn't know what to do. This monster, this Cerinian, had slaughtered over a dozen innocent people in the labs—probably including his best friend, Fox. Their blood literally stained her, visibly soaking her blue fur red even in the dim shadows. Yet the fact that she wanted him to put her out of her pitiful existence moved something inside of him…
Hand beginning to tremble, Bill holstered his blaster. He set about shrugging off his military jacket, flipping it around in his hands.
"What are you doing?!" Miyu hissed—though her tone gradually softened. "We… we have orders to kill that thing…"
Bill ignored her. Instead he stooped down, wrapping the Cerinian in his jacket—and quickly staining the inside with smears of blood from her fur. The vixen blinked, looking up at him as her mouth hung slightly open in surprise.
"Bill, she might kill you!"
"Whatever happened to her, it's passed," he insisted. "Call Beltino. Tell him we found his Cerinian, and she appears docile. But…"
The girl wrapped the jacket tightly around her shoulders, comforting herself as she huddled on the floor.
"…If she attacks again, shoot her."